By Martin Ramirez-Cauich, staff writer
Ever since the unfortunate occurrence of a pandemic in late 2019, we have had to take precautions to further prevent cases of Covid 19 in San Francisco by not sending students to school. The option to do this was a very smart move on the part of the SFUSD, the only way for students to get their education while not physically attending school was Online/Distance learning. However online school hasn’t been the greatest for me because technology keeps getting in the way of being able to fully learn and what I hoped for my senior year.
In the beginning, I didn’t have a laptop, which made it difficult for me to do the classwork while still being in a lecture. It was impossible for me to do multiple things at once. Luckily I had an internship & used that money to pay for my laptop which made things much easier. But being in my room and trying to listen to my teachers was something I also found just really distracting. I also found it really comforting and motivating to be in a classroom where I have people there to talk to about the work and also just being in school makes me more attentive.
Although I’ve been able to figure out some of the issues that I had at the beginning of distance learning, the struggles I deal with now mostly revolve around internet connection. Sometimes my internet connection is really slow and ends up disconnecting me from the class. Another problem is my teacher’s internet connection, which of course isn’t their fault, but it does result in problems when doing their lectures. When my teacher’s internet starts to disconnect I often feel bad for them because it can probably be really frustrating for them, and then I just start to get distracted because without the teacher we can’t really learn. This year I had planned on getting close with my teachers and meeting new people but I feel like it’s impossible now since I feel so disconnected with my classmates. In zoom it’s also much harder to connect with my classmates when getting to know them or have discussions with them.
The pandemic & distance learning has gotten in the way of having a memorable senior year. I remember hearing students that have graduated talk about how their senior year was their favorite year and best without a doubt. But I’m over here behind a screen for my senior year. I miss so many of my friends and meeting new people is something fun, but I don’t get that feeling when I’m on zoom.
