College During A Global Pandemic (COVID-19)
An interruption because of a global pandemic is not what anyone in the graduating class of 2020 expected. In fact, it wasn’t what anyone in any academic institution was expecting.
First and foremost, my heart goes out to the graduating class of 2020 (high school AND college). All of you have worked extremely hard to get where you are today and many of you looked forward to having a graduation ceremony to both validate and celebrate your academic achievements. Many of you have had your graduations, proms, and senior trips cancelled (rather than rescheduled) and there are no words that anyone can say to take that pain away. I am sorry your senior year was disrupted the way it was.
Today, there is an outrageous amount of uncertainty surrounding Covid-19 and schools. Some states, including my own, are re-opening although schools (including college and universities) remain closed through the rest of the academic year—the end of May/early June. Some universities have announced that they will announce by the end of June if classes will resume face-to-face in the Fall.
Surely, these are scary developments for those of you who are struggling to adapt to online learning as it is. But, colleges are making every possible accommodation for their students during this time.Â
Although I don’t do this often, I’ll tell a bit of a personal story:
I am currently in my second year of law school, which is the main reason why I am infrequently posting here, and we shifted to solely online learning March 24. Now, before anyone thinks “that’s a late transition,” our classes were cancelled March 12 and the ABA sent out approval for classes shifting online amid the pandemic, the following week was Spring Break, and then we resumed the semester online. I’ll be the first to tell you that online classes are tough—I would much rather attend class face-to-face. I still had class at home, in my dining room, at the same time I had them every day on campus.
But, the worst part of it all is the exams. The exams are administered on a software that uses AI (artificial intelligence) to watch you take the exam and report if you’re cheating or even talking to someone else during the exam. The software is intrusive and a complete invasion of privacy. You can’t take notes on the exam, mark out incorrect answers, or even underline/circle key words in the fact pattern or the answer choices. Also, when your house is not quiet, it makes taking an exam much harder than taking it in a classroom. Needless to say, online exams are nothing like face-to-face exams. So, the transition has been tough.
Right now, I feel like Saul Goodman (Jimmy McGill/Slippin’ Jimmy) from “Better Call Saul.” (The running joke is that we attend Zoom University’s School of Law.)
But, I say all of this to say, everything will go on!
Eventually, schools will re-open, we won’t have to wear masks, we won’t have to worry about shaking people’s hands, and we won’t be stuck at home. But, if that doesn’t occur before Fall 2020, colleges will still continue—albeit online—but they will continue. Many schools have shifted new student orientations online. Remember: higher education institutions know that we didn’t sign up for this, they know that we would have signed up for a correspondence colleges/universities if that’s how we wanted to go to school, so they’re doing everything they can to make online learning a possibility.
GOOD LUCK CLASS OF 2020!!Â
