Students Sent Back To School at the Wrong Time
Taken Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020, at State High, in State College, PA. The hand sanitizer at the bottom of the photo is one of the safety precautions State High is taking.
October 15, 2020
The debate on whether or not students should return to school has been nation-wide and on-going. Opinions on this topic are easy to come by, but here’s mine: SCASD should not have sent students back to school. I, among many others, want nothing more than to go back to normal, but that desire shouldn’t cloud our judgment in times that are anything but normal.
Now, I have a question: how is our community preparing for the large number of cases and deaths we will see before returning to normal?
While we’re all taking safety precautions by wearing masks, social distancing, and using hand sanitizer, there is little to no room for error. A few weeks ago, State College was number two for the fastest number of rising cases in the nation. Let me say that again. In the entirety of the U.S, State College had the second-fastest increasing rate of COVID-19 cases. While Penn State students are mostly responsible for new cases, we all live in the same town. Students are advised to follow all of the precautions but even with the warning, some students still aren’t listening, causing our cases to rise.
The safest way for students to learn right now is online. This year, I am doing the remote learning option, and while it’s not perfect, I am keeping myself and others safe. It’s the only way to 100% make sure nobody gets COVID from school. Online learning can be hard on a lot of students, and I get that–I have definitely struggled with learning the material through a screen. I can also see how it negatively affects many students, but instead of sending them to school, there should also be more helpful resources and breaks implemented remotely. We all want this to be over and a crucial way to prevent the spread is to just stay home. It’s that simple.
However, since in-person school is an option, we have to take care of each other. We have to remember that while the pandemic is being made political, COVID does not care about who you align with politically. The pandemic is not about who you agree with on a national level, but how you take care of your community on a personal level.
No one actually wants to wear a mask. No one actually wants to deal with this. But we have no choice. Precautions are necessary if we want fewer cases and for the spread of COVID to slow down.
For those of us doing online school, like myself, I’ll admit it’s not what I hoped for my sophomore year. I don’t want to do online school any more than you do. It’s more difficult for everyone involved, students and teachers alike. However, life right now is not about what we want or what’s easiest, because nothing is easy during a pandemic.
I hate to break it to you, but this year is not about you. This year is about taking care of one another, because throughout all the losses, at least we gain the connection of going through this hard time together. Though we all have different opinions about how this year should be handled, there is one thing we all have in common: we all have a part to play to make sure everyone stays healthy and while playing our part we are protecting others. We all want to stay safe. So, mask up, State High.
Jacob • Oct 21, 2020 at 1:41 PM
I think you unfairly place responsibility on SCASD in making decisions related to Covid-19, specifically because “Penn State students are mostly responsible for new cases”. Since Penn-State refused to shut down, causing massive rises in cases, we are able to place blame on them. But you don’t mention any reasons to shut down SCASD, except that “some students aren’t listening” to health guidelines, which can be negated by the fact that there were no cases before the Penn State students arrived. Additionally, you begin the article arguing for SCASD to become wholly virtual and that we never should have returned to in-person school, but the end message was, “mask up, State High”. It is almost as if you were given an assignment or starting message and changed it halfway through. Try to focus on supporting the original claim, “Students Sent Back To School at the Wrong Time”. I like the writing style, just try to work on the way that you structure your claim and evidence.
Marilyn Jones • Oct 21, 2020 at 9:36 AM
I clicked on this through a mailing that comes to me everyday that offers various sources for news. I was delighted to see the Lions Digest here today, and more delighted to see the high quality article that Faith Bennett wrote. It is not only right on target with its point of view, but it is very well written. Keep up the good work!