By Mucteba Gokcek
Since March 13 we have all been in self quarantine due to the recent outbreak of the coronavirus. Starting in a lab in Wuhan, China, the world has been catastrophically affected by this extremely dangerous and unpredictable disease. In the United States alone, there have been about 2 million cases and almost 100,000 deaths. There have been about 5 million cases world wide with about 300 thousand deaths. Covid-19 has affected everyone from all around the world. Businesses have been shut down, schools closed, restaurants only delivering and taking out, sports getting canceled, and much more has been caused by the outbreak. As a student I have a good idea of how schools got affected by this virus. We now do all of our work online through Google Classroom, Zoom, etc.. Most teachers have been giving out assignments to review over the past year, and some have started to teach again but only by giving small assignments. Administrators have been talking with their superiors non-stop for new developments and cases. And the students have been caught middle. From one Zoom meeting to a Google Meet, from one assignment to another, students are being loaded with work that may not be hard, but takes time.
Essential Workers Are Not All Labeled Essential
Due to the recent outbreak, the definition of an “essential worker” has been changed. Now an essential worker is limited to frontline workers such as doctors, nurses, and health care workers. Mrs. Kantz, a Social Studies teacher, responded to being asked if they should be considered an essential worker with, “I am not considered an “essential worker” in that I do not have to report to the school building everyday to do my job. But, the job I do is considered essential.” Teachers have been on the top of their game since the schools suddenly closed, even though most were unprepared for the closure. Mr. Swatland, principal, answered the question if he is considered an essential worker with “No I am not, although I am at school often.” Principals and administrators were also caught by surprise when the schools suddenly were closed by Governor Cuomo. My brother, Murteza Gokcek, and my friend, Nate Weiss, both replied to the question if they are considered an essential worker with “No, I am not.” However, when asked if they should be considered an essential worker Mrs. Kantz answered, “I think the job of a teacher is essential, and we are doing our job, just virtually, as you know. I am in favor of my non essential status, though, from the public health perspective. Teaching virtually is not ideal, but is the right choice when faced with a worldwide pandemic. Safety and health is more important keeping the schools open.” Teachers should definitely be considered an essential part of the world because they are vital for the continuation and survival of humanity, but Mrs. Kantz does make a good point with her favoring her non-essential status. Mr. Swatland replied to the question if he should be considered an essential worker with, “No I do not, I can complete most of my tasks from home and I go into school when I need to.” It is true that administrators and teachers could do their work from home, but he goes on to say the “face to face” interactions are vital. My brother answered the question of if he should be considered an essential worker with, ”Yes, because the future relies on present students.” Meanwhile Nate simply said, “No”. Therefore, there is a lot of uncertainty about the future and now, of where we are standing and where we should be standing.
All Jobs Are Affected by the Virus
Throughout the world people’s jobs are affected by the coronavirus. In the interviews conducted each participant was asked how their job was affected. Mrs. Kantz replied, “”The East administration has been great. Since we are in uncharted waters, per se, they have supported us and given us latitude to figure things out as we go. They check in on us frequently, more to make sure we are safe, healthy and not too overwhelmed, and personally delivered us goodie bags on Friday as a thanks for our work in transitioning to online learning and continuing to work with our students. They encouraged us to try new platforms to test them out too.” It is important to keep our mental health in check because of how everyone is isolated. Mr. Swatland replied to how his job was affected with, “The District has been fantastic to all employees, all employees have been paid through the school closure.” It has been a real problem through businesses: since they aren’t getting paid, they are having to lay off their employees who are also unable to pay their mortgage or rent. Murteza said, ”Everything is now online” which is the case for most students including Nate who said, ”All of our work is online.” Therefore, almost everything we are doing and can do is online.
Zoom is the New Norm
Another question was how the virus outbreak has changed their perception of their occupation or if everything they could do could be done from home. Mrs. Kantz replied, “I think it has improved the perception of the teaching occupation. Teachers are always mocked by some people for getting summers off and long holiday breaks, but those same people don’t really know how much work goes into the planning, prepping and teaching. As parents are tasked with the only teaching and holding accountable aspect, they are beginning to see how hard it is to motivate and teach kids. Providing an education online can be done, but I don’t think teaching can. I think true learning happens face to face between students and teachers, and it’s not always academic (think of the list of things your classmates created on the back board). As a teacher, I can’t tell if my students really get the concept at that moment or not, and they don’t have the chance to ask a question they might have in real time. Online classes take these opportunities away. Plus it’s no fun at all.” Face to face interaction is vital as shown by what Mrs. Kantz said and Mr. Swaland restated: “I can complete a lot at home, but schools need face-to-face interactions so no we need to be in school.” Nate also said, “The virus hasn’t changed anything.” Meanwhile my brother Murteza said, “Yes, because I can do everything from home on zoom and google meet.” So our perceptions are different to how the outbreak has changed our point of view of our occupations.
“I’m watching what is happening in Finland and it is bare bones education. High School as we know it won’t be able to happen until an effective vaccine is in place, and that will be years.” – Mrs. Kantz
Concern About Changing Job Descriptions
Another question that was asked was how do you think that your occupation will change once everything returns to normal in order to prevent/prepare for a similar event in the future? This is a question that all of us are wondering because everyone is thinking how things might not get back to normal for a long time. Mrs. Kantz replied, “Until an effective treatment for the virus is found, I don’t see us going back to the school building and I think we will start September off virtually, despite the valiant efforts of the medical researchers. Once a treatment is created, I think we will see much smaller class sizes, to account for social distancing, masks on everyone in the building and a rotating schedule with no extra curriculars, including and especially sports. I’m watching what is happening in Finland and it is bare bones education. High School as we know it won’t be able to happen until an effective vaccine is in place, and that will be years.” This is an answer none of us would like to hear, much less think about. Mr. Swatland answered the same question with, “It will become more chaotic, the planning for the upcoming year is going to be difficult at best.” This is another truth that no one would want to hear because of how everyone’s schedule is going to be messed up. On the other hand students such as my brother and Nate said that they don’t think it will change much.
The new lifestyle has affected everyone in different ways my brother has “much more” free time, Nate has finished more than “Three Netflix shows”, Mr. Swatland goes through “15-20 zoom meetings” per week, and although Mrs. Kantz has lowered the workload, she is still consistently giving out work. We all have new lives that we should get used to because there still aren’t any signs as to this outbreak stopping.
