Fernando M., Incarnation Catholic School
The Maze of Doom
Coronavirus has had a fairly large impact on just about everybody. For some people, it’s that they died. For others, they lost their job. And for me, school would never be the same.
A little more on that last one.
Distance learning is a school category which consists of the education of pupils not physically in attendance at an educational institute. In English, it’s a way to learn without having your body physically located in the school you attend. Now, with all this “newfangled” technology, we can be at school virtually via laptops and computers. So, when the epidemic began, every school added the option of distance learning. The school I attend used Microsoft Teams as their medium. Now if you’ve ever used Microsoft Teams you know how complicated it can get. If you haven’t, picture this: you walk into a maze, an extensive and winding one with plentiful dead ends. As you walk through the maze, you collect different papers and assignments posted to the walls. When you think you are almost out, you find a map lying on the floor that shows you that the exit is on the opposite side of the maze. Then, when you reach the location of the big fat “x”, you realize the map was upside-down.
As one of the only two 7th grade distance learners, I had to deal with this for two months. I never really got the hang of it. For me, Microsoft teams has always been a dark netherworld. I was always one step behind my homework. But one day, I realized the simple solution: staying positive. Ok, that sounds a little corny. Fine, a lot corny, but it’s true! Albert Einstein once said, “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” If I had sulked in a corner, my problems wouldn’t have gone away. Frankly, they would’ve kept multiplying! I had to finish them first so relaxing for a while could finally be an option! Sure, my teachers would eventually send me more homework, but when they did, I’d be ready to complete it promptly. If I continued like this, homework wouldn’t be so terrible.
If you are good, like in Dottie Yeck’s philosophy, then you will end up having fun and being happy! When you finish your homework, being happy is an understatement. Let me put this another way: if you were lost in an extensive and winding maze, would you sit in a corner and sulk, or would you give your head a good shake, exhale, and try another path? If you sat down to mope, you are guaranteed to fail. The exit isn’t going to come to you! But if you decided on the latter, you may have a chance of escape. School has changed a lot, but it’s up to you to decide whether that’s a good or bad thing. Who knows, maybe the exit is just around the corner!
