The Education Lost to the Pandemic Podcast

Podcast Title: The Education Lost to the Pandemic.

Podcast Central Argument: Pandemic had an impact on the learning of students of all ages

Podcast Supporting Evidence: “Across the country, over one million students during the pandemic did not enroll in public school who would have normally been there, and 1/3 of those were kindergartners” (Harper, 2021).

“In Philadelphia, we saw many schools that lost 25 percent, 40 percent, 50 percent of kindergartners” (Harper, 2021).

Questions

• Despite these negative factors, does the distance learning format have any positive aspects?
• How will children be able to adapt to school due to missing years without proper education?
• Are changes in the education system necessary to be ready for such situations?

Narrative Response

It is necessary to highlight the main thoughts that were noted in this podcast. It appears that quarantining adds to all of the issues interrupting children’s prospects for academic achievement and social development. Thus, the pandemic has led to a contradictory situation in the education sphere. It is essential to take care of children’s health, but quarantine measures have a negative impact on academic performance. Also, this leads to the fact that many parents begin to doubt the quality of distance learning. Since this type of training does not provide opportunities for direct interaction between the teacher and the student. The learning process itself turns into routine work rather than the process of obtaining knowledge. However, due to the lack of alternatives, a large number of children who do not receive education appear.

On the other hand, those who continue distance learning face problems. This is especially reflected in children’s academic performance who have just started school or have not even been to it. Some of the observations Dana Goldstein heard from educators include children who do not know how to hold a pencil correctly or open a book correctly. They do not even comprehend that writing in English flows from left to right. Also, there is a problem with kids who need assistance with classroom routines, such as exchanging materials with classmates or raising their hands and waiting for their turn to speak.

In addition, it is worth adding a few more points that are not marked in the podcast. Firstly, the problem of technical equipment for the remotely implemented educational process is traditionally acute. Certainly, the Internet and computers are available in almost every school. However, the problem now is not in school education. Do teachers have the opportunity to create a full-fledged workplace at home? Do children have computers for home use? Surveys show that most participants in the educational process have smartphones, but not all families have computers (Engzell, 2021). Adding to this the restrictions existing in most popular tariffs for individuals on the volume and performance of Internet traffic, it can be understood that distance learning will face purely technical difficulties at home.

Secondly, the problem is the organization of teaching and educational work in conditions when there is a mixture of working and home modes of life. Remote lessons from home bring down the previous mode, which leads to insufficient concentration. With an online lesson, it is more difficult for the teacher to control the actual presence of students than with contact training to make sure that the student completes the task independently (Engzell, 2021). A particular case of this problem is the problem of the self-organization of educational work. Not every child, especially in primary school, is able to perform the necessary educational activities independently, away from teachers and classmates.

Consequently, the problems of organizing the educational process in the conditions of the coronavirus pandemic objectively exist. Most of these problems were a direct consequence of the mass nature of distance learning, introduced as a forced and generally unexpected measure. The solution to these problems is more relevant today than ever before since the results of education over a long period of time are at risk.

Works Cited

Engzell, P. (2021) ‘Learning loss due to school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118(17), pp. 1-7. Web.

Harper, S. (Executive Producer). (2019). The Education Lost to the Pandemic. Daily News. Web.