Rather than paraphrase, interpret or research the sizzling-hot topic of education during the time of COVID-19, this cub reporter decided to go to the source and ask full-time and part-time Cornwall high school, college and graduate school students for their POV. Responses have been edited for brevity, view their full answers below:
“I am pro in-person learning vs online learning. For a person like me I learn by experience and that one cannot get online to the extent as in class.” — Micah Matsudaira, Rising Senior, Housatonic Regional High School
“In my personal opinion, in-person school is much better than the virtual school. I am a visual learner and I work best when I can ask my teacher and I can be in person. While it was nice because I was able to roll out of bed and have class in my PJ’s, I was able to slack off. I enjoyed slacking off at first, but it was school and I was supposed to be working.” — Georgia Horan, Rising Sophomore, Poly Prep Country Day School
“I much prefer in-person schooling to virtual learning. For me, one of the most noticeable differences in classes online compared to classes in person is that students are much less willing to participate during online classes. — Plum Luard, Rising Junior, Friends Seminary
“I really dislike distance learning because it takes a lot longer to get things done like if you need to ask a question you have to type up an email and send it instead of just raising your hand. It is also hard since I am [in] the agriculture programs at Housatonic, I can not do anything hands on, it’s pretty much all on Google Classroom.” — Spencer Markow, Rising Sophomore, Housatonic Regional High School
“I feel that Zoom was a good resolution for the few months that we could not be at school but after a few weeks it became the worst part of my day having to wake up early just to look at the computer for a few hours. It also felt very impersonal because all we did was listen to the teacher speak for an hour. — Iris Hubbard, Rising Junior, The Gunnery
“I definitely prefer in-person to remote classes. Obviously, the in-person academic experience of college is impossible to replicate remotely but for me, the loss of the social and intellectual environment is more significant. In other words, college students are submerged in a culture that promotes growth, through the exchange of ideas, on a daily basis and I just don’t buy that this same atmosphere can be reproduced in a remote setting.” — Harry Martin, Rising Junior, Wesleyan University
“I definitely prefer in person classes much better. I have missed seeing my friends at school and the whole atmosphere of classes is completely different over Zoom. It’s much harder to focus and motivate yourself to engage with the professor and other classmates when you’re not in the same room.” — Olive Cowan, Rising Junior, Kenyon College
“I’ve never taken a remote class, but I know I’ve been hoping for all classes to resume as usual in the fall. I think this is because I do very well with routine and something about having to actually get up out of bed and feel the energy of your peers around you in a tangible academic setting keeps the motivation high and mind on the task at hand.” — Lucie Jadow, Rising Senior, Chapman University
“You would be hard-pressed to find a student who prefers remote learning. Here’s why: the educational quality in the classroom is better because teachers can adapt in real-time and it’s extremely difficult to maintain every facet of social interactions when you’re shut in your own house. It’s just impossible to get the same type of engagement as you would have on a campus. — Grace Luckett, Rising Sophomore, Georgetown University
“In-person. You miss everything outside the very specific class times such as extracurriculars, small interactions in between classes and any socializing. Remote did enforce my teachers to become more organized and meticulous with assignments.” — Oscar Luckett, Rising Senior, Saint Ann’s School
“I can definitely say in person school is infinitely preferable. It was very hard to stay focused when everything required me staring at a screen, whether it be class or studying. I found just one class to be so draining I’d have to nap after, something I never did when we were in person.
Another major pitfall was trying to transfer our clinical experiences online. While we could practice the interviews via video chat, there was clearly no way to properly learn exam techniques. — Mary Kate Kosciusko, Rising Second Year Student, UConn School of Medicine
“I would prefer an in-person semester. Why? I do not learn well on my own, with a computer, watching a screen, in my home, or anything else that resembles a ‘remote’ education. What I do need is eye contact, a handshake, a classroom, a book with real paper, a notebook with real paper, a teacher to interrupt, a friend to talk about lectures with, and a schedule. I think we should almost stop saying ‘remote learning vs in-person learning’ and call it ‘learning with people vs learning without people.’ The word ‘remote’ makes it sound like there’s an advantage. Not for me!” — James Nicholas, Rising Senior, St. Lawrence University
“I think I can say for most of my peers that learning online was not ideal. I prefer learning in-person because it provides structure and less procrastination. I am a nursing student, so working online can be very challenging with all of the hands-on experiences we need. — Roxy Hurlburt, Rising Junior at University of New England
“I’ve been feeling neutral about it all in some regards… not a huge push one way or the other. It seems like the only way that other countries have made headway with the virus is by taking some unpopular, drastic measures to keep everyone safe. So if schools need to do that by keeping a large portion of the population from partying/living together? Then I’m for it.– Willa Neubauer, Rising Junior, Barnard College
“My university has not yet announced its decision, but I think the most likely choice is a scenario where the university offers three semesters of instruction in the fall, spring, and summer, and arranges for undergraduates to be on campus for two of these semesters. They’ve also mentioned routinely testing students while at campus which I think would be very helpful for students.” –Maisie Fischer, Rising Senior, Brown University
“With this COVID situation what I prefer and what I believe should happen do not necessarily align. I’d love to be back in person or at least have everyone on campus doing hybrid classes, but I’m afraid that this will be dangerous territory. I think the smartest decision would be to go totally online for the first semester and enforce (nationally) way stricter precautions so that a second semester totally in person is possible. — Pia Labalme, Rising Junior, University of Michigan
I preferred in person school because it was it was much more simple to get help and actually have a teacher with you compared to zoom calls. — Helen Sanders, Rising Sophomore, Housatonic Valley Regional High School.
To answer your question about whether I like distance or in-person learning is a difficult thing to answer. I honestly think that when it comes to learning it depends on what way of learning is best for you. People have different learning types such as hands-on, verbal, and visual. Distance learning is both verbal and visual but if you are a hands-on learner it might be difficult to hold on to the information. For me, I liked distance learning to a point. It is nice that you can start classes whenever you can/want and that you can space out your work during the day. It can be good for those students that don’t need much guidance when learning but it isn’t good for all. Some students can be better students with distance learning and some can really struggle. Having this distance learning I’ve heard that students miss school. It’s not the learning they miss its the people they miss seeing every day five days a week. We may be an electronic oriented generation but we miss the human interaction. One week was fine with distance learning but after a while, you start to miss school. Distance learning overall was pretty good and for the teachers to be able to do this so well with no training is amazing. School is about learning, socializing, being in clubs, and sports. When everything but learning gets taken out it can be hard for the students that need all of it to be successful. I do think that distance learning will impact learning and might change the snow days. In the end, I think all of us students will be glad to go back to school even though it might not be the same due to the coronavirus. — Shanea Togninalli, Rising Sophomore, HRVS
—Elizabeth England
