By Hannah McIntyre
June 1, 2021
The bright red lockers of Weston McEwen High School will be ripped from their standing place of 44 years during the summer of 2021. Rob Shell, the high school principal said, “they will be removed during the summer months to not disrupt classes.” WMHS is fixing to make a permanent change to how the school is run.
With the students across the globe participating in online classes for nearly a year and a half, a future in permanent online schooling may not be far behind. Some districts are already making plans towards a more permanent online experience.
Weston McEwen High School’s principal Rob Shell was one of the key people involved in deciding to remove the lockers and move to a hybrid-online education experience for students in grades 9-12.
Shell said, “We discovered that our students seem to be doing better through online classes.” Over the last year, the number of graduating students has not decreased despite the hardships that many have encountered while dealing with COVID-19.
The pros of online school highlight aspects of freedom and independence for students which hopefully alleviates some stress that comes along with school. “Online classes have given students more freedom to do their work on their own time.” Shell said, “They can help with family responsibilities and work jobs.”
Elizabeth Powell, the junior and senior English teacher at Weston McEwen High School, is not keen on the idea of a hybrid education.
“Being physically present in the classroom holds students more accountable for their work,” Powell said. “There are kids enrolled in junior English who have not turned in a single assignment for the 2020-2021 school year. As a result, they will not graduate on time. Online education is not the way to go for students.”
With a year of teaching online English to high schoolers under her belt, Powell can now identify the pros and cons of online schooling. Unfortunately, according to
her, there are more cons than pros in this situation.
“We are doing these children a disservice by moving to online education. It worked through the pandemic, but barely. These kids need to be in the classroom, socializing with their peers.”
With the news that Powell may continue to be teaching a hybrid style of education, she detests the idea. Educators have already had to completely alter the curriculum to meet the ever-changing standards of the education system. Now it may be possible that Powell has to create a curriculum for both online and in-person students, carefully tailoring the assignments to each student to ensure that they pass.
“I feel like I have whiplash from how much the state of Oregon has changed the standards for students to graduate on time. The pandemic has almost put educators into a chokehold when it comes to passing students.”
What will education look like in ten years? What will the standard high school diploma entail? These are questions that have been circulating in the education community for some time.
Powell said, “I don’t know what my job will look like in ten to fifteen years, but if schools are looking to move online, I think they will have a hard time finding educators who are willing to sit in front of a computer screen and read off lecture notes. That is not why I went into education. I’m here to teach but to learn as well.
It’s hard to do through a screen.”
This year has been hard on students and educators alike.
Cameron Reich, a current freshman at Weston McEwen, has not yet had the chance to immerse himself in the normal high school experience. With in-person classes finally having started in March, many students have had the chance to finally visit Weston McEwen High School.
Reich said, “I didn’t get to go inside the high school until about a month ago when we started to have in-person classes. It is nice to finally be at the high school but, it still doesn’t feel normal.”
Things are far from normal now that students are stuck in cohorts when in class and the school is attempting to fit a whole year of sports in two months. The students also have had to forego high school traditions like homecoming and prom.
Reich said, “It’s been tough. I was upset about football season being canceled in the fall. We luckily had a chance to play a short season in the spring, but it wasn’t the same experience I was hoping for a year ago. My parents had to sit in their car and watch me play from the parking lot. It’s strange to see the bleachers empty.”
It might not be just the bleachers that are empty next year though. Moving to a hybrid online schooling schedule means less time in the classroom and more time on the computer at home.
It might not be just the bleachers that are empty next year though. Moving to a hybrid online schooling schedule means less time in the classroom and more time on the computer at home.
When Reich found out that he may never experience a normal six-hour-school day, he was disappointed, to say the least. Reich said, “If WMHS does continue to do schooling as they have the last year, I will transfer schools. I miss my friends, and I want to learn. I can’t do that very well from a computer screen, learning is just not the same.”
As time passes on we all have become more aware of the things that we take for granted. Being with family and friends in close proximity without masks seems closer now that a vaccine has been made available to the public. Students are back in the classroom and participating in sports again. Life seems to be going back to normal for the most part.
“I’ve done enough online school, the last thing that I want is for this to become a normal thing,” Reich said, “I hope that WMHS makes the right decision and tries to go back to normal.”