Students of the Pandemic
November 1, 2022
Scout Nicholson, Sophomore staff writer
The Coronavirus. An issue many students have experienced firsthand. But now that this virus has slowed down are many still affected by it? The short answer is yes. Though this virus is not as prominent as it was at the height of the 2020 pandemic it still has a long-lasting impact on students across the globe. During the pandemic, many teachers and students had to resort to remote learning after schools were shut down. This change in learning caused many challenges for high schoolers during this time. Many tend to face mental health problems. As well as having a lack of social skills and falling behind in their studies. This pandemic caused many difficulties for everyone that people still face today.
A large effect of remote learning and the Covid 19 pandemic was the increase in mental health struggles among high school-aged students. As said by a Hubbard Highschool student who preferred to remain anonymous “Before the pandemic I suffered anxiety on a day-to-day basis but with the isolation from my peers during lockdown my anxiety worsened. Now even after this pandemic I still struggle in social situations from being kept at home for such a long period.” Just like this student many others are still dealing with mental health problems from the pandemic. Statistics from the “world economic forum” indicate that “About 37% of students at public and private US high schools said their mental health was not good most or all of the time during the pandemic, according to a new study.” These statistics show that the effects of covid are detrimental to the mental well-being of high school students.
“I would say that Covid affected my motivation to complete assignments because of how much freedom I had over the time spent working. This didn’t cause my grades to drop but it did make me work harder to maintain them” said sophomore Landen Rain. Another impact of switching to remote learning was that students got lazy about their schoolwork. They began to not complete their assignments and eventually, their grades dropped. This caused many to fall behind in classes and students did not have the correct resources to learn. Many students need hands-on interaction to understand what they are learning and without that students begin to not care for and understand their work. When coming back to school students were not used to their previous form of education and needed to put in extra work to get back to where they were. Students’ grades are still affected by Covid because of this harmful mentality that they’ve learned through the course of the pandemic.
Children of all ages typically thrive by being around others and having close companions. Before the pandemic, many students had friends that they could hang out with and be close with. But once Covid hit people were forced to stay at home for their safety and this caused a lot of social troubles for students. Further into this epidemic students lost many friends due to this isolation which caused many to feel alone. When coming back to school many students experienced a lack of social skills and a lot of social anxiety. There also was and still is difficulty in creating and maintaining friendships. In an article from “The Boston Globe,” an interviewee states “They are so uptight and stressed and bored, and the whole lack of socializing. Who have they spent all this time with? No one outside their family.” Children and Adults today still are unaware of how to act around others because of their lack of interaction with people that aren’t their family.
The coronavirus pandemic had long-lasting effects on students and people across the globe. Students had an increase in mental problems like anxiety and depression. There was a loss in motivation for school work and people’s grades dropped because of this. Another issue was because of this lockdown people experienced a lack of social skills because of the seclusion from others. In summary, Covid still affects many students today.
