Corona consequences in the USA: Students do not return to class

After months of distance learning, schools in almost all US states are back to normal. But many students do not return to the classroom. Teachers and parents fight against a lack of motivation and lost routine.

The ASB school is Wyndy McGinley’s pride and joy. The community and businesses in the small town of Williston, North Dakota have donated to build the school in a former swimming pool, says the director who manages schools in the Williston borough.

Middle school students mostly work independently. In many other schools in her district, however, the problems are profound, explains McGinley. “It is a constant struggle for us that pupils in the fifth to twelfth grade come to class.”

Hybrid model has expired

The schools in Williston have been open again without Corona restrictions since October. But in some classes up to ten percent of the students have not returned, estimates McGinley. Students who think they can keep doing the work at home. “But we no longer teach in the hybrid model or via zoom. You have to go to school,” she explains.

The problem exists in many states, not just North Dakota. The lower participation in classes has to do with quarantine, write authors on the website Chalkbeat.org, which is aimed at teachers. In addition, the pressure to keep children at home when the first symptoms appear, but also other challenges after months of the pandemic play a role.

Schools could not offer any alternatives

Local journalist Mitch Melberg confirms the observation for Williston. He suspects that the motivation was permanently lost to students when schools in the countryside had to close due to Corona and could not offer an alternative. “My youngest daughter had only seen her teacher online once a week. Otherwise she would be alone in the room and that harmed everyone,” he says.

Melberg suspects the consequences are perhaps even more blatant in rural areas than in the city. “As a father, I have arguments with my two children: it’s just so difficult for them to get back to the routine of going to school regularly.” You are unmotivated. “Because it used to be like this: Your task is here, if it is not finished tomorrow, it will not be recognized. Now it is said: Just hand it in later.”

Older students prefer to go to work

In addition, enrollment has continued to decline in many US public schools. On NPR radio, Rochester, New York’s Superintendent Lesli Myers-Small reports that some high school seniors are working instead of studying for graduation. Older students in particular have jobs and do not want to return.

The schools are now considering whether they should introduce afternoon courses or phone fast-food restaurants so that students are not divided into shifts in the morning, reports the radio station.

Can Incentives Help?

In Williston, North Dakota, the Wyndy McGinley School District operates incentives. McGinley suggests that anyone who shows up for class five days in a row can get five more minutes of break. “Or a school celebrates that 85 percent of the students turn up again,” she says.

Small successes that are already in danger again. Because the number of infections with the Omikron variant is also rising rapidly in the USA.