This semester has been a long and arduous one for many students given the hybrid schedule and the current climate of the world. At PV and schools all over the country have had a record number of failing grades.
This leaves students and parents with a big question. What is being done to aid the many students struggling to pass their classes?
There are a lot of factors that contribute to the massive rise in failing grades. Whether it be students that are trying to balance work and hybrid schooling, students that struggle to learn online, or even students that can not find the willpower or energy to care anymore.
One big factor that has not seemed to have changed is the school’s expectations. Earlier this year the school principal, Darren Erickson, had this to say about the school’s expectations “We haven’t lowered our expectations, but we’re limited to how we can teach kids. Our ability to teach just isn’t where our expectations are.”
Teachers may have gotten better and adjusted to the hybrid schedule, but that does not fix all the damage done before that point.
While administration cannot do anything about what students choose to do with their time there are steps that could be taken to lighten the load for those who are struggling.
Students seem to have rather mixed feelings about the administration’s efforts to take those steps or even whether or not those steps really exist. Some students feel like they are being abandoned and feel like there is nothing being done to help them. Other students believe that there is not much administration can do to aid students.
One such student is Zain Mohammed, a PV senior. Mohammed believes that there is not much administration can do, “I feel like they are doing their best when it comes to aiding students. I think it’s ultimately on how much effort and time the student is willing to put in to keep their grades up, and less about what the administration can do, because they can only do so much”
That is not to say that Mohammed does not believe there are things that administration can and should be doing to help students, “with coronavirus, it’s hard for some like me who are quarantining to get service hours in, so that’s one thing where I think they could step in to lessen the amount or remove them as a requirement for this years graduation, as unlikely as that is to actually happen.”
Senior Emma Engler believes that administration is not doing enough to help students, “I don’t think administration is doing enough. It is extremely difficult for students to focus on school and homework when they are not in a school environment. It is also really difficult to deal with schedule changes every day. You’d think you’d get used to is eventually, but my sleep schedule is still messed up, which makes it harder to be productive on my off-days.”
Engler continued to suggest ways that administration could help keep students on track, “I think that it would be helpful for counselors to check in with students via email to see how they’re doing, or maybe have a Google Form to set up meetings with students who really feel like they’re struggling. This won’t fix everything, but it would be a start.”
As of now, the hybrid schedule is here to stay for the next semester. If students that are struggling cannot get back on track it could very well affect their ability to graduate on top of their ability to make it to college. Hopefully, something can be worked out to help these students and keep them from becoming too far gone.
Carson Maxwell • Feb 5, 2021 at 12:04 pm
Good work Jonathan
Jack Dumas • Feb 5, 2021 at 9:24 am
I love this article by Jonathan. I feel like a lot of the students at PV feel betrayed by the Administration. We are expected to be able to preform the same while under drastically different circumstances. It’s not possible for me to do the same quality of work and learning while I’m at home instead of the classroom.