Jack McComb
After the City Government announced that all public schools in New York City were to close, Brooklyn Latin scrambled to port their curricula online. This entailed making sure disadvantaged students had access to the internet or a computer, as well as reformatting the school work to make it more accessible. While this situation is not ideal by any means, I believe our school’s transition to online learning was superb.
One major benefit of our online learning, in my opinion, is that we have a somewhat flexible schedule that gives people who may have a difficult family situation as the result of the crisis the ability to do schoolwork while not forgoing their personal obligations. Also, the plan for the coursework is assigned at the beginning of the week, allowing everybody to work ahead and save time. In all honesty, for many of our students who prefer to work individually, online learning has been a blessing. In short, important leaniencies have been given that make the schoolwork more manageable for those of us who might otherwise be struggling academically.
Of course, there are downsides. Some people may prefer to work in groups, which is very hard to execute when everyone is working remotely. Also, it requires some more self-discipline to do school work at home everyday. That said, the biggest selling point for me is the freedom of time and control over the pacing of schoolwork. This allows time for other activities to keep us occupied and to self-improve while we have the time.
The Coronavirus has ruined many things in civil society. We no longer have prom. No longer have graduation. For now, we no longer see each other every day. But the relatively quick and seamless transition into online learning by TBLS gives me hope that education remains a constant force for enrichment, even under these unfortunate circumstances.
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