There are so many unanswerable questions in this time of the coronavirus pandemic, but one of the most upsetting ones is “how long?” How long until COVID-19 peaks in our state and in our country? How long until it is safe to interact with people? How long until our economy recovers? And the ‘how long’ question that is weighing on the minds of the Oliver Ames community is: How long until we go back to school?
There’s the easy half-answer: May 4th. But this date, mandated by the state, has been communicated as the earliest date we could return to school, not the date we will go back to school. And at this point, many students are preparing themselves for being at home for much longer.
I asked students in my junior English class when they thought we would return to school, and several students responded by saying they didn’t think we would be back for the rest of the year.
Sarah Orsinger said that even though she’s hopeful that it is not the case, she is “betting on the worst-case scenario and hoping” that she’ll be “pleasantly surprised.” She cited the evidence of the virus in other countries like Italy and the fact that it is still getting worse in the U.S. for her line of reasoning. “I think it’s naive to assume that this will all be neatly cleaned up by May,” she concluded.
When I asked whether they felt like it was pessimism or realism to think this way, all the students who responded said it was realism.
“It’s not pessimism when it’s reality,” said Sam Streton, adding that closure until the end of the school year is “a huge possibility” in her mind. And many other students expressed the opinion that going back on May 4th is an overly optimistic date for the schools to be projecting for return.
“We are in a state of emergency,” said Haley Cuthbert. “There is no way the whole state can be ‘cured’ in a month.”
Hailey Chan suggested that there could be a “second wave” when “we all leave isolation” because of people getting together again, and she mentioned the second spike in cases in Hong Kong after travel bans were lifted there.
Sam expressed frustration at the way that the school continues to talk about May 4th as the return date: “The school is like ‘yay be back on May 4th’ when we probably won’t be.”
Maybe it’s a result of being cooped up in our houses, but the optimism seems to be lacking.
If you are struggling with feelings about the current situation, please reach out to talk to someone. Remember that these are student opinions–there is a lot we still don’t know, which can be stressful in itself. Remember that the school guidance resources are still available, and you can email your guidance counselors and teachers.
If you have a different opinion about the coronavirus situation that you would like to be shared with the OA community, you can email your thoughts to me at am2155028@easton.k12.ma.us. If I get enough positive responses I will write an article for the other, more hopeful, camp!