#BTColumn – Online ‘diabetes’ in 2021

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today Inc.

by Julia Hanschell

Will the world of work in the next year continue to be ‘on/off’ or blended, as it has been for much of the last?

What, initially, was a necessity, could now become a preference; many admit they enjoy, even prefer working from home. Interruptions are fewer, productivity has increased,
office ‘politics’ have been reduced; it has been easier to stay organised and complete tasks.

The insane unfamiliarity thrust on us all in 2020, which increased our anxiety has, in many cases, evolved in 2021 into a new routine, providing a renewed sanity, simply by an empowering change of environment.

This is the feedback from those adults in the working world, who have highly developed self-regulation skills, empowered by their own initiative and desire to remain of value to their organisation – and stay employed.

How successful has online teaching and learning been? That is the burning question.

Australia’s ‘School of the Air’ was a success, via radio, since 1951. Predictions have been for some time that the internet would make education available to thousands of students who never had prior access.

It is being successfully embraced by underprivileged students in many countries. So, it was always inevitable; the pandemic merely thrust it upon us.

Many teachers found the initial transition to online presentation incredibly difficult. As their technological skills improved, the challenges of remote delivery lessened.

Many have discovered teaching from their own private space a reprieve from the in-person stressors of managing students’ behaviours.

So, in many instances, teachers’ mental wellbeing has improved simply because they were able to emotionally disconnect when necessary. Teachers can video-call a student to online class but they cannot make them log on or shut down their gaming/music/YouTube windows, when they do; leaving teachers with students who actually want to learn.

When a student avoids physical or mental connection, there is no way of forcing them. Many of us call parents, requesting they get their children online. One told me, “That’s not my job.”

The greatest challenge is students’ electing to use their devices as toys for entertainment, not tools for learning. So, those of us involved in education have had a stressful time adjusting to the realization that many of our students are falling through the cracks, in spite of our best efforts. Tablets, gifted to many students have created insidious problems, not progressive solutions.

Parents, forced to supervise the learning environment and participation of their children, have now walked in a teachers’ shoes and many, mistakenly, left the task of learning to their children.

As ‘lockdown’ continued, even strong parental supervision has been intermittently effective. Students, faced with freedom, are choosing the ‘pull’ of play and social media rather than welcoming academic opportunity.

We all acknowledge that students have never been more anxious, or even depressed, with the insecurity of changes thrust on them. Yes, we need to help them to become more resilient. However, what parents and teachers really must do is to ensure students make better personal choices.

Independence is at the top of the life and learning pyramid, and children yearn for independence on a social level, but managing independence with responsibility and accountability is not their natural response.

As there is no guarantee that ‘normal’ will return, how can we ‘fix’ this untenable situation?

We simply have to or we risk losing an entire generation trapped in a transition. The ‘Technological Revolution’ or ‘Educational Renaissance’ will be measured by our response to what we know is derailing learning.

I recently read a quote attributed to Sheikh Rashid, “My grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a camel, I drive a Mercedes, my son drives a Land Rover, his son will drive a Land Rover, but his son will ride a camel.”

I believe we have no option but to return to the tough love of expectation and governance.

We cannot leave children to their own devices, their personal preferences and their own choices. Would parents have sugary snacks readily available in a household in which their child is a Diabetic? Would alcohol be easily accessible in a household in which there is an alcoholic? Absolutely not.

I cannot tell parents what to do; I can only communicate what I would do if I had teenagers in 2021, seeing what I see daily. I would be ‘the bull’ in their ‘china shop’ of freedom. I would have a firewall from hell. I would not pay for a sim card and they would have to pay me for using my wifi.

They would have to get a job to fund online access, even for learning. No learning, no pleasure. They probably would not even have a phone, or if they did, it would be so basic that a text message would be a luxury.

I would check their homework and once completed they would have to go and read a book. There would be no X-box in my house.

They would hate me. And their hatred would validate my parenting because I am not their friend.

Internet freedom is their ‘sugar’ and 99 per cent of students are Diabetic in 2021. Freedom is slowly killing their potential.

Julia Hanschell can be contacted on smartstudying@gmail.com.