The great impact of a simple protein molecule on students across the nation

The coronavirus and online learning

A simple protein called ACE2 has enabled a virus to upend our lives in so many unforeseen ways. But when Gavin Newsom, Governor of California, declared that all schools be shut down for the rest of the academic year, we began to understand just how outdated and ill-equipped our public school systems are to deal with any major crisis.

My school district shut down on Friday, the 13th of March a couple of weeks before others in California because the virus was taking a massive toll on the residents of San Jose and Santa Clara County. For anyone superstitious that already sends bad vibes. For two weeks, all the students were told to

“await further instructions from the district”

— instructions that never came until all schools shut down in California. Finally, after much backlash on public forums, my school district realized that imparting education was still a part of their mandate even though all the students were at home. During this gap, many students realized that they would rather be playing video games like Rainbow Siege 6 and congregating with friends in the local parks, instead of attending classes. We lost all sense of structure or schedule in our lives. Even when online classes started, attendance was managed arbitrarily, classes were graded with Pass/NoPass credits, and the quality of instruction varied with the teacher’s efficacy with technology.

The COVID crisis is one of the biggest challenges faced by mankind in terms of casualty rates and unpredictability. And while my observations and concerns may seem trivial within the bigger scheme of things, I feel they still provide learning moments for students, educators, and administrators across the country.

Using technology to conduct online classes seems like the obvious solution during a crisis. However, to ensure that classes are taught without interruptions proved to be a fundamental challenge. Many teachers across school districts used Zoom due to its ease of access and its popularity. However, streaming educational videos for the entire class has a lower fps (frames per second) than if you tried to play Overwatch on a school Chromebook. It becomes even more difficult when teachers have to proctor an online test for 100+ students at the same time. Recently, my French class had to take the Grand Concours, a national contest that evaluates listening comprehension and written abilities in French. Test security included warnings indicating

“If you restart/reload/or exit the page, your answers WILL NOT count for National Merit.”

This sounds logical because no one wants students to navigate to Google Translate and search for the answers. However, when hundreds of students try to take the test at the same time, the website crashes and you may just have to restart the exam. Not to mention that some students may, unfortunately, have bad wifi or are ill-equipped with technological gadgets like computers or Chromebooks.

Security issues when using online platforms also came up repeatedly as outsiders can easily hack into Zoom accounts to troll teachers, cause general disturbance just so they can get a few extra views on YouTube or a twitch stream. Students also take advantage of the physical distance from their teachers and their inability to enforce common classroom courtesy and resort to non-participation or rude behavior, including racial slurs. Recently, a “Zoom bomber” exposed himself to Berkeley high school students and shouted obscenities and forced the school district to shut down online classes.

Random and unfair grading policies adopted by school districts that have not been carefully vetted are not helping matters either. Students do not feel the need to attend online classes because the grading policy for the semester has been changed to Pass/Fail, which means that no assignment after the “shelter in place” order will be counted towards the final grade. It sounds like a great idea initially because we seem to have evolved from a grades based education system to a learning model. However, in reality, it means that students can no longer be held responsible and are not compelled to complete assignments or attend online classes. When schools reopen next year, students will have forgotten everything they learned, effectively canceling learning for an entire academic year. Additionally, many students who worked hard this semester to maintain good grades and raise their GPA now can just watch their efforts be nullified. While school districts should take pride in catering to all students, this policy unfairly penalizes the sincere ones and makes it harder for them to get into the competitive colleges of their choice. The Pass criteria for a class are insultingly low as you only need a C- or higher and transcripts can no longer indicate if a student excelled in a subject.

Schedules for standardized exams have also been impacted due to cancellations and format changes of certain standardized tests like ACT, SAT, and AP exams. This may result in many juniors and sophomores getting only one shot to take the SAT before college decisions are made, whereas, in past years, seniors could take the SAT multiple times, and send in their best score. The 2020 AP Exams have been modified to a 45-minute online exam taken at home. This decision caused a lot of confusion on two counts:

How do you proctor an online exam taken at home on such a large scale without any prior practice runs?

Can a 45 minute truncated exam fairly replace a three hour exam and test learning to fairly provide college credits for a subject?

Many people speculated that students would be forced to videotape themselves taking the exam to discourage any cheating, but this brought up privacy and logistical concerns. Additionally, now that the exam has been modified, some people believe that the $100 fee should be refunded to students because Collegeboard no longer needs to print thousands of papers and distribute them nationally. Students can even use notes and other resources during the test, which effectively makes the AP exams this year a form of mandated cheating.

Summer programs and internships have also been canceled, though few companies have adopted a virtual internship model.

While most of us are trying to adapt to the new guidelines and standards and I know many teachers, administrators, and students, who are trying to make the best of a bad situation, we are still floundering. We can look at this moment in time and see it as an opportunity for improvement so that we can cater to the needs of our students and educators everywhere and identify solutions that worked. Above all, I feel that we must refrain from taking random decisions without soliciting feedback from the student or the educators, a community that is most affected by this crisis in our education system.