Children are Struggling and the Pandemic is to Blame

 By Logan McCann 

Stonehill JRN100 Staff Writer

Students in grades K-12 have been suffering mentally, emotionally, and socially since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and experts and parents fear that these effects may last for years to come. 

“Some of the necessary skills I began to acquire in middle school were lost because of the pandemic,” Tyesha Ferraro, a junior in high school in Brooklyn, said. 

The online schooling system that was set up during the pandemic posed a problem for students across the nation. Most students went online in March of 2020, and some students did not fully return to school until the start of the 2021-2022 school year. Researchers are saying that this time spent at home has been one of the main factors in the problems that children are currently facing. 

A study conducted by the Pew Research Center found that 61% of parents with children in grades K-12 believe that the first year of the pandemic had a negative effect on the education of their children. In the remaining percentage of parents, 28% believed the pandemic had no effect, while 7% said that online learning had a positive effect on the education of their children. In addition, 44% of the parents who believe that the pandemic has had a negative effect also believe that the impact will be lasting.  

Ferraro was one of the many students impacted by the lockdown. In eighth grade, her school shut down and the classes went online in an attempt to protect the students and faculty at her school from the threat of COVID-19. In her eighth-grade year, Ferraro was one of the top ten students in her grade. 

“I was doing amazing in most of my classes. I had like 95% in all of them,” Ferraro said. 

When Ferraro’s school first went online, she enjoyed the format. She said she liked having more time and freedom. Since all of her work was asynchronous, meaning she was given her work to do on her own time, she could create her own schedule. Her tests and quizzes had no time limit and were often open book. However, she realized that she was not learning as much, compared to what she would learn in in-person school. She also noticed a shift in her teachers, where they stopped caring about the students actually learning effectively and started just trying to just get through the necessary material.

“The teachers got to a point where they were just teaching what we needed to know to pass the class,” Ferraro said. 

Ferraro got used to this way of learning, and her learning habits began to change. 

“I was impacted, although I didn’t realize it,” Ferraro said. 

Ferraro transitioned from middle school to high school in the middle of the pandemic and her freshman year started fully online. The high school started a blended learning program, half online and half in-person, in March, but Ferraro did not go in until May. She said that she was afraid to go in because it was a new school, with all new people, and she didn’t know what to expect. 

This start to high school made for a rough transition for Ferraro, which hurt her grades. She said that she lost her time management abilities and teamwork skills, which made it more difficult for her to get back on track. 

The pandemic hurt Ferraro emotionally, as well as academically. Remote learning left her feeling lonely and isolated, as it did for kids around the world. She was grateful for her family and friends, because she noticed the importance of her support system during a time of such uncertainty and loneliness. Ferraro noted that she is doing better now and has been able to adjust with the help of her support system. 

Although some students were able to adjust, others are still having a difficult time getting back to normal. Karen Anderson, the department chair of the Education Studies Program at Stonehill College, said that she has “intense fear” about the consequences of online learning. She said that the pandemic has changed the lives of students, whether they realize it or not. 

“I don’t see how anyone came out of two years of pandemic education without being negatively impacted,” Anderson said, “Think about the friends you could have made, the dances you could have gone to, and the social events that this generation missed out on.” 

She stressed the importance of the social aspect of in-person school that was taken away by online learning. Although kids were able to contact each other using technology, they missed out on so many opportunities to socialize in person and meet new people. These other skills, including working with others and learning conventions of society, cannot easily be taught online, so some students forgot them and fell into bad habits.  

One habit that became prevalent in children during the pandemic was cheating. The entire generation touched by the pandemic learned that cheating was acceptable, because everyone else was doing it, according to Anderson. 

“[Cheating] could be a highly problematic thing for this generation come 10-15 years from now,” Anderson said. 

Cheating and other bad habits formed during the pandemic have caused students to learn less. A study done by the National Center of Educational Statistics showed that test scores on standardized tests have dropped in the last two years more than ever before. 

However, Anderson believes if teachers focus more on their students personally, it will help them continue to learn and grow after this setback. 

“Learning is a lifelong goal,” Anderson said. 

Although the pandemic’s negative impact has been strong, some good things have come out of the pandemic as well. Besides the increased number of laptops given to students and the new option of zoom classes for bad weather, the pandemic also brought an opportunity to learn from actions and change the school system for the better. 

“We can continue to learn, grow, and benefit. We don’t need to make up for this time, we just need to continue to move ahead,” Anderson said.