How COVID Impacted Students, by Sebastian Padilla

 Please enjoy this article written by a student in DMHS's "Introduction to Journalism" class!

The coronavirus impacted everyone's jobs, families and life, but COVID-19 affected school students drastically. These students will be the future of mankind; if these students can not have a good education, we as a society will be in trouble. 

In 2020 the coronavirus was sweeping across the world. Everyone was in quarantine. Students were forced to be in online school. Students “lost out on about 35% of a normal school year’s worth of learning,” according to an article in the journal Natural Human Behavior. This means that students will have to learn an extra 35% of learning on top of the yearly amount. This is not only bad for students, it is stressful for teachers. The teachers will have to try to teach an extra 35% of content.

 Students have a lot to deal with. “In addition to surging COVID-19 cases at the end of 2021, schools have faced severe staff shortages, high rates of absenteeism and quarantines, and rolling school closures. Furthermore, students and educators continue to struggle with mental health challenges, higher rates of violence and misbehavior, and concerns about lost instructional time,” according to Brookings, a nonprofit public policy institute. In addition to having to learn a lot more, students have to deal with not enough teachers and quarantine and this is causing mental health issues. 

The pandemic has impacted schools in areas with a lot of poverty. According to Brookings, “test-score gaps between students in low-poverty and high-poverty elementary schools grew by approximately 20% in math (corresponding to 0.20 SDs) and 15% in reading (0.13 SDs), primarily during the 2020-21 school year.” This means that students in poverty schools will be suffering the most in school. These deficits in their early education will make it more difficult for these students to get into college and higher paying careers. 

In conclusion, the coronavirus impacted everyone's jobs, families, and life, but COVID-19 affected school students the most. It’s important to get our school students back on track for a healthy education because these children are the future of the world. 

Sebastian Padilla is an 8th grader at DMHS. He hopes to work in the film industry when he grows up.