A Regent Park High School Student Speaks on the Effect of Virtual Learning

By Robael Bereket with input from Dimitrije Martinovic
Robael is youth journalist with FOCUS MEDIA ARTS CENTRE

I am a high school student, attending Jarvis Collegiate, and at times I have struggled with online learning. This year our school was considering the quad system where you would have two classes a semester which is about two months long and rotate through four semesters. The problem with this was everything was very rushed and it would be hard for many students including myself to keep up since we were getting new assignments every other day, and we would have to learn a lot of concepts all in a short period of time making it hard to remember everything. For students who struggled on-line and were already behind this would have made it even more difficult for them to keep up. 

Even before being elected the Doug Ford conservatives had already stated that they were in favour of introducing more online learning into the Ontario curriculum. In the aftermath of the pandemic restrictions and closures  of 2020 and 2021, when not only schools but many other sectors had transitioned to working remotely, it is important evaluation what these changes have meant. At RPTV, we interviewed Suze Morrison the NDP MPP for Toronto Centre to help us get a better sense what is happening at the policy level.

Morrison's main argument concerns are that the Ford government installed the present online learning programs without proper consultation or approval from school boards and parents – resulting in chaos  and confusion as to how to the programs would be implemented. Additionally, and from the individual perspective, students were left for-the-most part unsupported and worrying about how these developments would play out in terms of their educational paths.

To further understand the changes brought on by virtual learning, and in particular amongst Regent Park residents, we interviewed two students and one parent. The general impression from both students and the parent was that online learning, located in the home as it were, became all the more difficult because it blurred the casual environment of the home with that of the formally structured environment of the classroom.

With the prospect of going back to full-time in-person school somewhere on the not too distant horizon, the Ford government still remains adamant that online learning programs will continue to be an integral part of the Ontario curriculum.

For many students virtual learning has been fine, but plenty of students and teachers believe that it is not doing the job, some students have even felt like they did not learn anything at all and are scared because they believe that they are not prepared for the years to come.

As vaccines are getting handed out and cases are going down daily, schools in Ontario are set to resume real life learning in September. This leaves the question how much have students remembered from virtual learning and will students feel prepared for the years to come, especially those who are entering post - secondary school for the first time. 

Abel, a student at Jarvis Collegiate Institute, is someone that prefers hands-on work and seeing things in real life but has managed to transition into online learning seamlessly and believes that students are over exaggerating concerns. Abel thinks that the anxiety about on-line teaching stems more from lack  of effort if anything. He believes that since teachers can not really see you and guide you to stay on target that students have no motivation to actually do any work, or pay attention, so they blame it on the fact that learning online is hard for them instead of putting in the effort to pay attention.

“As another school year  is upon us,  I am happy to say that not only has my school decided against the quad system but now that more than half of Canada’s population is fully vaccinated and the number is going up daily, schools in Ontario are set to open this September!   Whether students enjoyed online school, or had trouble with it, I'm sure everyone misses the aspect of being at school with friends, I know I can’t wait for it, “ said Able.