For the past few months, Corry High School has been performing schooling online. Opinions on this topic have had plenty of time to formulate as students sit at home every day and teachers in empty classrooms. Some people believe that it is going to cause a major detriment to students’ learning ability, while others believe that it is a great way to stop the spread of the virus and that it really isn’t that bad. For this article, I decided to ask different high school teachers a simple question; “What is your take on remote learning? Pros and cons?” This gave them the chance to voice their opinions on this very important topic.

Mr. Carney, a World History and American Government teacher, gave his view on the remote side of learning. Carney said, “Remote learning is something that right now, as teachers, we do not have any control over. It is the learning situation that we are in and we have to do the best we can as educators and students.” Carney added, “I am glad that we have the capabilities to learn remotely and stay safe, however, I would much rather be teaching in a classroom full of students. I look forward to having a school and classroom full of students who are eager to return. One of the biggest pros is that everyone is staying safer. One of the biggest cons is the lack of motivation from all.”

Many people that I have talked to always mention the major lack of motivation to get things done during the school day. They also mention not being able to pay attention as much, which can cause harm to the amount of information being comprehended by students. This will eventually result in a major decline in grades.

Mrs. Jackman, a Cellular Molecular Biology, Biology, Advanced Biology, and Intro to Anatomy and Physiology teacher, also helped in voicing her opinion on remote schooling. She said, “I do not like teaching remotely. I miss the interactions I have with my students on a daily basis. I could gauge better if students understood the concepts and I could also remind them about work they owe when they were in the actual classroom.” Jackman continued, “It is also hard to try to convert some material to online work, such as lab activities and group projects.  I miss my students, and can’t wait until they are back in the classroom.”

This is also another problem with the online part of schooling that many people can agree on: missing the interactions with not just other students but the teachers as well. The social aspect of school is crucial in the development of students’ minds, as it prepares them for their futures and what it entails.

Mrs. Braswell, a Geometry and Algebra 2 teacher in the high school, was able to give her viewpoint on this as well. She noted, “Pro is having the technology to be able to do remote learning. Con is not being able to help students one-on-one whenever they need it.  Unfortunately, a lot of students’ grades are hurting because of it. As a teacher, I can not cover the material as fast and therefore probably won’t be able to cover as much content as I usually do.”

Thanks to the technology available to the school, the students (and teachers) are able to take part in the remote learning. If this pandemic would’ve happened 20 years ago, it would’ve been a whole different story, however.

Mrs. Happoldt, who teaches four sections of Geometry (three advanced and one regular) Pre-Calculus, and Calculus stated, “The pros to teaching remotely are that everyone can be home and away from sickness. The cons are that the students cannot get the help they need like when they’re here, teachers miss their students and the students miss their teachers, the students do not benefit from the social interaction that school allows for, and students are more prone to getting distracted when they’re supposed to be paying attention in class.  Overall, remote learning is not my cup of tea.”

Being distracted while doing online learning can have such a negative effect on students because the more distracted they are, the less information they are able to retain. As they retain less information, their grades start to slip, and eventually they have dug themselves a big hole because of their lack of paying attention during class.

Although the tunnel of remote learning doesn’t seem to have an end, stay strong during these unprecedented times. This pandemic will end at some point, but we have to keeping going until it does. Stay focused, get motivated, and don’t give up.