Coronavirus Alters Homework Loads

Betty Weaver, Reporter

Ever since the coronavirus began a few short months ago, everyone has been stuck in a seemingly endless cycle of change. Trips, concerts, and a myriad of events have been cancelled, seeing friends is almost impossible, and going to a restaurant is an impossibility. The list goes on and on. Everything has been put on hold while the world is dealing with this pandemic. However, there are a few things that have not come to a crashing halt as a result of COVID-19. The most prominent thing on that list is that school has been running full steam ahead.

Ever since spring break, students from Fort Worth Country Day have been doing online school. For over a month, high school students have been meeting on a platform called Zoom from 9am to 3pm, five days a week. 

“Online school is more relaxed and I can sit at my own desk which is nice and I’m more comfortable at home,” Lily Senter ‘22 said. 

As a result of the cancellations of sports, social events, and classes at FWCD for the remainder of the school year, students have much more free time than they did before this outbreak of the coronavirus. And teachers are all responding to these lack of plans in their own ways.

“I’d say the workload is comparable to the workload before spring break. Of course, the medium and content have changed, but overall it feels like less work because we have more free time,” Jack Ethridge ‘21 said. 

Because of this irregular amount of free time, some teachers have exploited this opportunity to load on a large amount of work onto these high schoolers. Others have lessened the amount of work that they give exponentially. A few have not changed their work loads in the slightest.

“Some teachers have been understanding and others have been giving the same amount of work if not more,” Lily Senter ‘22 said.

For the most part, the teachers have been accommodating and understanding of the current situation. The only classes that have been more demanding are APs.

— Jack Ethridge '21

US math teacher Paula Weatherholt commented on how she has handled giving homework to her students.

“I feel that I have given a little less work (as far as time to take to finish an assignment), Weatherholt said “I was worried that my students would spend too many hours at a desk looking at a computer, so I slowed the curriculum down which in turn made less homework.”  

Students have also all responded in their own unique ways. Some find all this free time unmanageable and cannot seem to stay on top of their work. Another group finds that they are able to complete their assignments much better during quarantine than if they were still physically attending school. And others have seen no difference between the work they were being given before quarantine and now.

Online school has been active for almost two months with only one month remaining. Within the next month, hopefully students will find a way to manage their workload in an effective way.