by Kiran Jayasinghe
The novel coronavirus has changed all of our lifestyles, from work to sports to school. My swim team has just resumed practices after three months of quarantine. My dad holds all his meetings at home, just a few feet away from where I do my online school Since I was already homeschooled, corona hasn’t changed much in terms of education for me. But I think it will continue to effect our education system in the years to come, and I wonder if I’ll have the same college experience in a few years that a traditional college student would have had.
If we don’t have a vaccine for Corona virus by the time I get to college, then we’ll still need to take preventative measures to keep ourselves safe from infection. This means schools will need to have some form of social distancing, which may even include remote online learning. I’ve been homeschooled for my entire life, so while online learning won’t be hard, the college experience — debates with classmates, study groups and group assignments, team sports — might not be a reality for me.
Even if we have a vaccine, the way we learn could change. University and colleges may find online teaching to be more cost effective and switch to using tools like virtual reality goggles and other online resources. More schools may abandon the traditional schedule and lean towards more asynchronous classes, giving students less of the normal college experience.
And since online learning poses challenges to students and may not be the first choice for many people, going to college could be less of a priority for some. This may lead to less enrollment, which means budget cuts in schools or higher prices for students (or both). If Coronavirus is still at large by the time I go to college, the education experience we have now may not exist.