COVID, College, and Classes

Returning to college and taking classes during the pandemic has been a challenge. Not only have I been having difficulty finding motivation to do my classwork, I feel as if the quality of education I am receiving is lower than before. Since all of my classes are online, it is difficult to find motivation to do my work, as I am not required to leave my room and go to a classroom. Online classes are also difficult because of the distractions that are not present in a regular classroom setting.

I do not believe that there has been an equal opportunity for learning during this pandemic. Some students are able to attend more in person classes than others. Some students have opted to not move back to campus or even to Kentucky as a result of a fully online class schedule. Students who do not live in the Eastern time zone are often not accommodated to in terms of class times and exam time windows. Having online classes eliminates interactions within the classroom setting, such as asking other students around you for help or speaking to the professor before or after class. Some classes have even been completely eliminated from the university this year, such as organic chemistry recitation. Not only are students unable to take recitation and seek additional help for free, recitation leaders like myself no longer have a job.

Because of all of these factors and more, I believe that the university should implement a hardship clause to prevent students from failing their classes. Should a student complete all of their work for a course, I believe that the student should pass. Each student is struggling in some way, no matter how big or small. Failing a college course because of any problem caused by the pandemic should be the least of a student's worries. While I think that no student enrolled should be able to fail a class during the pandemic, students who are unable to complete their schoolwork because of issues presented by COVID should contact their professors to receive accommodations. Unfortunately, I do not think there is any fair way to regulate this as students could lie to professors about their circumstances and the professor would have not way of knowing.

As a pre-medical student, I am not likely to be affected by the competitiveness of the job market. However, I am being affected by the competitiveness of medical school applications. A greater amount of students applied to medical school this year, which increases the competitiveness for each applicant. I am unsure how the job market will be affected for students on other career paths, but I am assuming it will be more competitive as there are people who became unemployed because of COVID that are also in the pool of job applicants.