We’re all tired of the pandemic, but on behalf of the Zoom students, this needs to be said.
I was born in the Philippines in the late 1990s — that strange gap between the Millennials and the Gen Z. That meant growing up on pogs, tumbang preso, and the sweet nectar of santan flowers; but also Friendster, minesweeper, and that offline pinball game on Windows computers. Then we grew up and practically raised the online giants of today—Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube (although credit for Tiktok is concededly with the Gen Z), and the rest is history. Basically, we have tradition and technology all figured out, having lived in the gaps.
Then the pandemic arrived in the Philippines in early 2020. I leave it to the Doctors of Education and the researchers to determine which generation thrived during the sudden online shift in education. But having taught university students and currently studying in grad school in this pandemic, I can attest that one thing is certain: It was not an easy shift for both educators and students.
It should’ve been easy, this sudden shift, considering that the Internet has been around for over a decade. But why is everyone still struggling?
It’s simple: Not all 19th to 20th century principles work for 21st century students learning in the classrooms of the future. Yet we insist on it, then struggle and wonder why it’s so difficult.
Traditional principles have withstood the test of time for a reason — they work.
But there’s a reason that not all traditions (for instance, Sanduguan, riding kalesas, or regularly wearing a baro’t saya) last forever— some of them just don’t work anymore.
The same goes for education, and that’s okay. It doesn’t mean that the old practices are bad; it just means that they don’t work anymore, although they did in the past.
According to Anne Dealy of the Geneva Historical Society, among the 19th century systems that remain unchanged today are memorization and recitation of definitions and math problems.
Is this still effective today in online education, where students can easily have the definition or formula opened on their screens while reciting—fooling both themselves and their professors in the process? Are fill-in-the-blanks modules still effective when Google is right there and not impossible to access despite whatever anti-cheating software is in place?
Perhaps application-type assessments would be more effective. Provide all the definitions, formulas, or facts, then test the students’ application and critical thinking. After all, the point of education is to educate, not to grade.
Perhaps the assessment need not be too left-brained in the first place. Not everyone is a left-brainer anyway. My History professor once asked us to write a song for class, and to this day I can still enumerate the African Trading Civilizations by heart. This kind of task is easily doable in an online class setting, and inarguably a lot more entertaining than an assessment requiring a mere objective enumeration of civilizations.
Content-wise, when was the last time you used the quadratic formula outside of class? Compare this with the last time you created something on either your phone or laptop, whether it be a collage, blog, digital illustration, a spreadsheet, or the like.
Imagine if the curriculum included coding, digital art, game design, or even a class as simple as understanding Microsoft Excel. These would have taught problem solving and analysis just the same, but it would have equipped the student with real life skills at the same time. This is not to say that algebra and similar subjects should be scrapped, but perhaps there are subjects that can be electives for those who wish to pursue a certain path, while there are untaught lessons that we ought to teach our students for this 21st century world.
Take it a step further. Use available online games if you can. You would be shocked at how fast a five-year-old can learn to count and to understand how the world works because of Minecraft, a game familiar to most young people today.
Should we insist on sports for Physical Education classes in an online environment? My younger sister has table tennis as her subject, and, well, you could only imagine how her classes go. As an alternative, perhaps the curriculum could focus instead on teaching meal plans, the science of sleep, and realistic home workouts that the students could bring with them after they graduate.
These are just a few of the changes we can make to bring our educational system to the present, a world which isn’t as new as we like to think. The shift toward online education does not have to be difficult and mental-health-deteriorating.
The Internet is not a new invention, and online video calls did not arrive with the pandemic. They have been here for years. With the wisdom of traditional teachers and the technology of the future, the potential of education has never been this infinite. We just need to ask and genuinely listen to the 21st century students, and provide creative tools and empathetic support to our educators who remain among the unsung heroes today. This “new normal” in education has been waiting for years to be maximized.
For feedback, send an e-mail to lyca.balita@gmail.com
5 comments
Keep up unfolding new perspectives . Congrats to you.
There’s one thought though I have , how would it be if the pandemic hapenned when there was no internet , or what if, in the middle of the crisis, we lose it?
Well said, miss Lyca Balita. It is true that students should think outside the box these days. One time, my daughter told me and I quote, “Ma, I cannot apply this lesson in the future. I cannot use this formula at work.” After reading your article, I realized that my daughter had a point. But, how should our education system adapt to the 21st century?
This article explained the writer’s points in a way that everyone will understand, you wouldn’t have to look in the dictionary to understand the wordings, it just unfolded the concepts in the narration and that I think is one of the natural talent of a best writer.
I agree, these things are already here, we just need to ingest them and move toward the future, if we further look for more of what exists already speaking of technology, I’m sure we can have insights to the latest PARTY, keep it up Lyca 🎇
Thank You Miss Lyca Balita, very well said. Hope this will be an eye opener to our country’s system of education.
This is far from the traditionally written piece of periodical parlance. The use of vague, thesaurus-rich provocations and focus to natural language of easy understanding is evidently portrayed. Well done and this should be taught in the journalism and writing classes.. so that the “us” daily readers can be enticed to read these kinds of commentaries.. well done!