Students deserve face-to-face instruction, not substandard distance learning – Orange County Register

Do university administrators forcing students to return to distance learning really care about students’ well-being? Not much.

By forcing students to travel at a distance, school administrators send them a clear message: No matter how many precautions you take, no matter how meticulous you are with wearing a mask. and inspection regiments, that will never be enough.

Managers who go this route turn a blind eye to the negative impact of procrastination on students directly. Many of us have lost jobs, family members and opportunities because of the pandemic. Now, university administrators’ panic-driven response to COVID-19 is hindering academic excellence. Like many students, I was shocked and disappointed when I received notice from George Washington University that in-person study would be delayed until after Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. on January 18.

This is despite the fact that my university has mandatory COVID-19 vaccines, including booster shots, for staff and students, and 98% of the GWU community is immunized. Additionally, according to GW’s diagnostic tests, developed by researchers at the Milken School of Public Health, the school only had 1,948 positives out of 179,484 tests taken since the start of the fall semester. 2021 until January 10, the beginning of the spring semester of 2022.

George Washington University is not alone. Amid the worsening omicron increase, an increasing number of universities and schools across the country are delaying the start of in-person classes despite high vaccination rates, booster vaccination duties, masking duties and social protocols. For example, California State University’s 23-campus system, as well as others, has extended remote instruction through January 31. Some schools have gone even further: Yale University has banned births. Their members eat out at local restaurants during the spring semester, ignoring the recommendations of health professionals that eating outdoors is okay. How is this “science”?

The majority of college students are under 30. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, young people have very low hospitalization rates and even lower mortality rates regardless of vaccination status. Recent data suggests that although the omicron variant of COVID-19 is more contagious than its delta counterpart, it is much less severe. Even Dr. Anthony Fauci has admitted this.

This makes a policy like distance learning temporarily all the more frustrating.

We attend universities at great expense. We don’t want to be taught dense concepts from a computer screen or forced to perform choir concerts on Zoom. We don’t want all the net and happy hours from our bedroom. But above all, we are concerned about the consequences of COVID-19 restrictions on the mental health and financial well-being of our students. As Leslie Bienen wrote for The Wall Street Journal, “These organizations should stop undermining their own moral authority by revising the agreement they made: Vaccinate for the benefit of others and you. can have a normal college experience.”

Implementing COVID-19 policies in schools has been costly in many ways.

It’s not the virus that makes us feel unsafe on campus, it’s the policies enacted by the schools. Several universities such as Boston University, George Mason University, and Pennsylvania State University have created portals for students and faculty to report non-compliance with COVID-19 protocols and expectations. Universities must recruit and pay administrators to investigate these violations. In addition, these portals have become a tool for students to bully or attack their friends as a student facing such allegations can be suspended or expelled from the universities. learn. And who will pay for that? The students and in the case of public schools, the taxpayer.

One-size-fits-all COVID-19 responses do not protect students at risk. They disproportionately affect students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds and students attending trade schools. The digital divide remains a major issue across the US, and many students struggle with reliable access to technology and the internet. This lack of access hinders their academic success, which ultimately affects their mental health.

Instead of current approaches, schools should shift to prioritizing protecting students who are at risk of the severe consequences of COVID-19 and providing them with appropriate conditions, while restore face-to-face learning to students who are not at risk.

But unfortunately, universities squander those resources on measures that provide minimal benefit. For example, universities continue to randomly test asymptomatic students for a nationwide shortage of test kits. While colleges continue to stock up on test kits at a taxpayer expense, many at-risk Americans are still struggling to access affordable tests.