Ladies and gentlemen, dear students,
I’m talking to you, because I think that it’s important to acknowledge the aftereffects of social distancing, the lockdown and the closing of the schools especially for our younger generation. I experienced the homeschooling myself and how my siblings, friends and classmates dealt with it. That’s the reason why I think it’s important to talk also about the negative aspects of this pandemic for our education.
Our school system is obsolete: Most of our teachers can’t handle new technologies like Microsoft TEAMS or WebUntis – new software we use at our school since the school closing. The lockdown showed those weaknesses. And the victims of this old-men-politics are we – the young, ambitious and up-to-date generation. The lockdown hit us very hard. We weren’t allowed to meet our friends, our classmates or neither our teachers at school. It was a straight cut through our normal lives and most students couldn’t handle the self-education during those months. Most students spent only about 4 hours for school stuff a day. That’s 3 hours less in comparison with the time before the school closing.
Although we all did our best and that very well. But we shouldn’t forget those children and teenagers, who hadn’t had older siblings or parents who cared about them and their school stuff. Teenagers who hadn’t had for example a computer or tablet for their own. Those people need help to catch up subject matter.
This is my plea to you: Please take care of those people. Please take care of each other.
Another aspect of social distancing is the social distance. Not meeting your friends in person for weeks is a hard experience for a teenager, because friends are something very essential for young people, who try to find and build their own identity.
In addition, it’s sometimes very strange when you walk through your hometown and you don’t know how to react when you meet people or you and another person are walking towards each other on the same side of a sideway. That stirs up uncertainties. And that can also affect the development of social life of teenagers.
It’s a challenge to walk towards each other while keeping your distance, but that’s necessary for a functional society. So please be nice and keep your distance. Let nobody – no teenager, no student, no teacher – fall apart.
Thanks for your attention.
Jasmin Denkmann, Englisch Gk 13 – BIT (15.09.2020)