Think back to how school was before COVID, was it easier or harder? How did you feel? There was a lot of change from then till now. A lot of students would much rather go back to how school was before COVID-19. School before COVID was more paper-pencil and more people engaged with students and teachers. Now students feel like they are just in school to pass instead of learning. Teachers feel less motivated to teach because of maybe how their life has changed by the impacts of COVID. They also feel like it is harder to connect with students now that everyone sits quietly and keeps their heads down.

Senior Xavier claims when it comes to the schoolwork situation, “Students before COVID had to think about how you would complete assignments.” You had to put more effort into your work. Now it’s a lot easier to just to google things off the internet, get your information, and copy and paste. He also believes students “interacted with each other a lot more” and “there were more class discussions” Now there are lots of cliques and separated groups. During COVID, people found others they felt most comfortable with and wanted to be around because we were quarantined for so long.

Student Sara feels that teachers, “Lost sympathy for students, so it was more about public policy workflow because teachers understood what everyone was going through” She disagrees with Xavier and believes school before COVID was more personal than paper pencil and thinks now that everything is online its harder looking everything up online and getting answers from other students. She says, “now they just give you your assignment on the computer and you just complete it without really learning.”

Students who are paper-pencil students find it challenging and struggle to learn because they were never used to using computers as much before COVID. Some students find it much easier to use computers and feel like it prepares them for college. Also, lots of students have gained many mental health issues because of all the effects of covid and feel like it is hard to keep up with all the new changes.