With a difficult year comes tough decisions. This includes educational decisions that must be made during COVID-19. Last month, in January, the Aiken County school board had to make a tough decision: to continue its students on a hybrid schedule or to go back full time. After many discussions and votes, they came to the decision that continuing on the hybrid schedule until mid-February was the safest plan. During February, the Aiken County school board will meet again to decide what should happen for the rest of the month and into March.
One of the largest questions this year is how the altered school year has affected people, a question that every person will answer differently. Colson Brown, a sophomore at North Augusta High School, said “This school year has been a bit challenging and tested my organization skills and managing my work efficiently.” Kendal Cundey, a freshman at NAHS, agreed with this sentiment. However, she also said “after I got used to it has been pleasant.” Teachers have had an altered school year as well. Paul Vance a History teacher at NAHS, said “This year has been stressful, but I feel extremely fortunate to have a great group of students that are making the most of a difficult situation.”
There’s no doubt that learning this year has been quite different. Some students are doing well with this change, while others have needed more help to adjust. Andrew Dickson, a senior at North Augusta High School, said “I am doing bad in some classes that I feel like I would be doing good in for a normal schedule, and in some classes, it’s actually helping me some. And I feel like this schedule can be easier if some teachers really knew how to use Schoology.” Mr. Vance shares this same idea with his own students, stating “Some students do very well during hybrid. They are the type of students that get their work done on time and have good study habits. Other students are really struggling. They just haven't developed the self-discipline that they need to learn the material on their own.”
Everyone has different opinions, especially about what they prefer. When asked if they preferred hybrid or full time more Brown stated, “Personally, full time was much more beneficial to me because the face-to-face learning is how I learn best and having a teacher teaching you instead of a screen is much better.” Mr. Vance has a different opinion, stating “If there were no pandemic, I would prefer full time by far. It's easier for the teacher to cover everything and it's easier on the students. But I also understand that it's impossible to keep socially distant when all the students are here. That also comes with a lot of problems with more students and teachers getting sick and having to quarantine. The truth is there are no great choices right now and I am just looking forward to when this is all over.”
Photographer: Ann Marie Partl
Pictured: Colson Brown
Comments