Studying at home remains difficult

By Joshua Corcuera

“I hope that some people stop assuming that I automatically prefer this alternative work arrangement. Believe me, working from home is demanding. The only perk is that I don’t have to take a bath every morning,” wrote Patricia Castillo-De Guzman in her contributed article to Rappler.

Though she is 12 years older than me and is working as a librarian, while I am still studying as a third-year college student, I can relate to her struggles which she narrated in such article published last June 2. Studying at home, just like working from home, is an exhausting and daunting task. This is why, as I explicitly stated in my column last May 24, there is a need to assure the safe resumption of face-to-face classes by next semester, at least for university students.

“…we can see that we need to go back to our schools as soon as possible,” I wrote in my May 24 column. “There is, and there had always been, an urgent need to ensure the safe resumption of face-to-face classes as soon as possible — ideally next semester.”

To be fair, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has taken some steps toward a return to traditional classes. Recently, a university in Sampaloc, Manila saw their medical technology students attend classes physically while observing public health protocols. This is a move in the right direction, however, much more needs to be done.

More specifically, there are several other degree programs that require laboratory units, but students of such programs are forced to take such units at home. As a student said on Twitter, she is worried that she would graduate under the current online set-up and end up being incompetent in the actual field. This harsh reality is also the topic of jokes in social media. For instance, a social media content creator made a video about current college students graduating from the online set-up and becoming a part of the professional world. One joke from that video is that the engineer worked as an intern in Minecraft, a video game usually played by children and young teenagers. As funny as it may seem, some students genuinely worry that they would fall short of the required competence their chosen careers demand.

Moving on, I have finished two semesters of online classes just last week. And although my grades were good, there are still subjects that I need to review because of time constraints. In one specific subject, for example, only half of my book was tackled by the lecturer. This is one problem encountered in online classes since synchronous classes only occur at least two-thirds of the allotted time. If I have a 6 unit subject, for instance, there is only a meeting of 4 hours per week. You might ask, why not use the entire time allotted? The answer is simple: one should remember that internet connection remains a problem to many. This is why, despite more than a year of online classes, such set-up remains difficult.

My next semester would be in August, though I have mid-year classes starting the third week of June and would last till July. Unsurprisingly, the mid-year classes will be held online but I still hope that we can return safely to our schools by next semester.