Are you For or Against Distance Learning? By Sivan Amitai 15.10.20

For the past six months there has been a spreading of a new worldwide pandemic, the Coronavirus. Like in other countries, the Corona has arrived to Israel, too. Last year, Shikma-Darca High School studies ended in the shadow of Coronavirus, and now, the new year has begun in the same way.

I asked a 9th grade student from Shikma-Darca what her feelings about distance learning were. According to her, “It’s easier to learn at your home than at school. You are in your “safe zone”, you don't need to put a mask on your face, you have your free time to do whatever you want between the lessons. The learning material is even simpler and the teachers don’t need to deal with discipline. Also, your homework is no longer in the ordinary way, meaning a notebook, it is given in varied ways.”

I also asked a high school English teacher what she thinks about this method of learning. According to her, “There are high school students who need to do their Bagrut exams by the end of this year and some of them are not learning very well with this kind of method, so the price they pay and will pay is too high. The students are also having problems, some of them don't have the motivation or the will to sit down in front of a computer and study. There are also students that can’t focus during the lesson in this way, and they get distracted very easily by the things surrounding them. These problems could have been solved better in regular learning; face to face at school.”

In conclusion, distance learning during the Corona pandemic has its own pros and cons and is affecting each one of Shikma-Darca’s students for better or worse. What you should do is just look at it in a different way and consider the regulations, so you could make the best out of it. Like it or not, Covid19 is here to stay!

Photo: Lee Amitai 14.10.20