It’s finally time to start the 2020-2021 school year!  Technically, we had school for quarter four remotely, but we were all too busy seizing the once in a lifetime opportunity to master new hobbies, stream copious amounts of Netflix, and laze around in our pajamas to actually do much more than check in. So after a virtually 6 month long summer break, it’s time to get back into the groove of things.

August 6th was the start of a distance learning school year, with the first week starting with two days for the first time.  This was a welcome change and served to better acclimate us to the new distance learning school year.

The concept of forcing every student in San Bernardino County, amongst other areas, to be “homeschooled” seemingly overnight (we didn’t get the official announcement until mid July) left many students feeling concerned about their education. However, many students celebrated their fortune as the responsibility of waking every morning ready for class was relieved of them. Senior Alysa Orozco expressed her content with the change, as she no longer “needs to be present or ready” to appear at an 8 a.m. zoom meeting.

Obviously, we are not being homeschooled by our parents. There is a distinct difference between homeschooling and distance learning; we have teachers still preparing and running our lessons and there are other students, so in the end it could be worse. If all students were to be homeschooled, the disconnect from friends and peers would be even greater.  It would mean no friends to see at your zoom meetings.

As some students celebrate the return of school in the form of distance learning, sophomore Lola Hansen expresses concern over distance learning “We don’t know if we are getting the right tools to be successful, no one really knows and that is what I find is the scariest part about the situation. The unknown…” An ominous view indeed but not an unreasonable concern. In this new environment surrounded by failing zoom meetings and poor internet connections, there is a level of uncertainty.

We face a new format in each class with different tech, various procedures, and each student learns differently, but no one seems to know what is best for learning at the moment. Senior Alysa Orozco, expresses her grievances of the new distance learning in which she “is easily distracted and it is harder for [her] to concentrate.” Many students are considering the prospect of failure due to the shortcomings of the model of distance learning and others are hoping to get a quick grasp on how best to cope with the transition.

Despite the drastic change in our 2020-2021 school year, we as a whole will endure and prevail this obstacle.  Millions of students across America are also going through distance learning. So if millions of American students can do it, we can too. Stay strong Sultans and we will be back in the classroom before we know it!