Almost-A-Month of Online Classes Thoughts Part 1

At first, obviously, not all are a fan of what the Department of Education here in the Philippines wanted. Most families in the Philippines are not that rich to afford all the things or gadgets needed to keep up with the new standard of learning. This is one of the reasons why most students are bothered by what will happen next.

The first week of classes is kind of okay. But here's the thing. There are two perspectives here by the way. One for the teachers and one for the students. I will talk about the perspectives of teachers in Part 2.

First up, for the students, are they actually learning? Here's a few reasons why that question might answer a Yes or maybe a No. One is that some, not all, teachers are just "reading" their modules or lessons which is not the "okay" standard of teaching. I know that most teachers are not familiar with all the things that are going on, not just on the internet, but in the gadget itself that they are using. But there's a catch. I study computer science, already in the third year of college. In that matter, there is that 98% that our professors are not new and know how the computer works. Because if they don't, then why are they teaching major subjects of the course that involves computers? And some of the professors that teach lessons about everything we need to know in the computer world already became my professors before. And by the looks of it, they know the computer and how the system works. When it comes to how they handle their lessons, I am not a fan of it. I'm okay with them reading their lessons, but at least, say something out of what we can read to. The fact that they don't even bother to tell something different just makes the moment awkward and boring.

The next thing I notice, as a student, is that students, including myself, tend to zone out. First is because of the distraction surrounding you. I live in a house that is very near the streets, as in like, you can hear every single vehicle that is passing by. And I don't even have a headset that has a noise-canceling feature since that thing is very expensive and I can't afford it. The second thing is that when we use our phones, students, can easily switch to any apps. Using Google Meet in phones, it has that feature that when you go to another app, the meeting still goes on and you are still there, hearing everything. It is not impossible for us to scroll through social media while still in class. Unlike face-to-face classes, teachers can see those students who are not paying attention or sleeping. This reason is one reason why these online classes should stop. Students are not learning, they are just passing the requirements so they can prove that they learned something.

Finally, we can't afford it. I have seen many posts regarding the use of technology and how students cannot do it. Phones and laptops are not that cheap for people who are living under minimum wage. Some people are lucky to have the gadgets they need. But if these "lucky" people say "If you can't or don't want online classes, then don't take it. Don't make other students who want to learn to stop their classes just because you can't afford it. Let us learn.", then they don't have the sense of humanity. This is what really pisses me off. Yes, I have everything I need to be in online classes, but of course, I feel for those who haven't. I am not that rich now, but before, I know how it feels to deal with something like this. Like how you can't even have a phone to know everything and you just cry in the corner because life is never fair. You can't walk in a park saying you have been successful in life if you can't even bother to give a beggar some piece of bread. That's selfishness, not being successful. And you can't say that it's his fault why he's there. You don't know his side of the coin so don't even bother to judge. People who want to go on in life without even bothering to help others to go to the top as well are only thinking of themselves. Why bother to be a billionaire when you can't even give a cent to a beggar?

What about you? What do you think of the online class? Should we have an academic freeze or not?