Caroline Donovan-Atwood
The COVID-19 virus, usually referred to as the Corona Virus, is a virus that has rapidly taken over the world. With its spread, came the closure of schools, concerts, and sporting events. This has left many students confused, due to the lack of structure, and with a need for entertainment. For some students this need has been filled with virtual schooling, and some have instead filled the void with a lack of responsibility and social media technology. The easy access to entertainment platforms and social media has left this generation lacking the necessary skill-set to persevere through hard times. Instead of taking this time of self-isolation and using it to succeed in school and get ahead in our classes, many are using it to slack off and fall behind.
For Generation Z, everything is at our fingertips. From fast-food delivery, games, ride-sharing services, to music and even apps that tell you how many steps you have walked. We have grown to be dependent on technology, and now that the world is virtual, we see it as a way to avoid work, not finish it. Technology, like the Macbook I am using right now, can be very useful. It can help people learn to read, do math, connect with relatives during this quarantine and most importantly, do work. When schools around our district, and in other districts, gave students access to expensive and useful technology, a lot of us took it for granted. During school, Surviv.io and Netflix became more important than The Big Bang theory, Human Evolution and the American Revolution. The skills we learn during school, such as coping mechanisms, how to respond to authority figures, how to manage time, are very important. Our lack of effort is jeopardizing their importance.
It is time for those of us who see this lack effort to take a stand against this lazy and indifferent attitude. If this generation wants to succeed in life, not just coast through it, then we have to begin to work harder. We need more than an hour’s worth of homework, even 2. I am not a fan of mass amounts of homework, but with Covid-19 and the lack of time we have to finish the school year off right, I believe we need more homework and more structured class time. The same rules about lack of attention, cell phone use and computer games should still apply. If we want to move on to our next year of high school, not worrying about making up proficiencies that we should have achieved this year, we need to buckle down and get our work done, whether it be for school or not.
I hope that we are able to open our minds and see this shutdown as a way to prove to ourselves,and to others that we are not a generation of loungers, but a generation of achievers. Lets take a stand and work harder in school, in our jobs, in our lives. Lets prove to the world we are not bums, but rather leaders.