It’s insane to think that school is still going on during a pandemic, yet here we are. After that first week of classes, I can confidently say that online courses require much more preparation than in-person ones do. There are Zoom meetings to attend, lectures to listen to and a lot more to keep up with in general. Thankfully, all of my professors were dutiful in ensuring that every student had access to the syllabus and knew when the Zoom meetings were scheduled for.
I am fully appreciative of the professors I have who are taking polls to see which type of class that students prefer. For this semester, online classes can be held two ways: asynchronous or synchronous. Asynchronous means prerecorded lectures or presentations, while synchronous means a live Zoom or Google meeting while the professor shares their screen to teach the class. Both have their pros and cons, but what is important is that most professors remain adaptable to changes to come in this semester.
Some professors aren’t as understanding, unfortunately. One of my roommate’s professors is requiring students to give medical documentation to excuse them from taking the class in-person. This is quite ridiculous on the professor’s part, as students may be worried about their health. With COVID-19, students deserve the right to take precautionary methods to protect themselves as best as they can, and many students do not feel comfortable physically coming to campus, especially in light of the recent events taking place at UNC-Chapel Hill.
This pandemic is something this world was not prepared for, and it will change the way we look at the world for years to come. A professor being this inconsiderate about their student’s safety and health is an utter disgrace. In high school, every teacher I had gave college professors a bad reputation and said they were much stricter. I have not seen that as the case throughout my college career, but of course, everyone has different experiences. This is not to say that college is easy, but many professors acknowledge that students have lives outside of class and will adjust if needed or asked to. It is not only unfair to be very strict, but professors who aren’t being understanding with students right now are only digging themselves into inadequate class evaluations.
With a majority of classes being online this semester, numerous students hoped tuition would be reduced as most of the in-person and housing fees would not exist. However, the fees we had to pay this year is about the same as it was last year. With full tuition prices, we don’t deserve to be forced by professors to come to campus if we are not comfortable doing so.
If a student is immunocompromised or is solely fearful of attending an in-person class, it doesn’t mean they are weak. They are just trying to cope and/or stay both physically and mentally healthy during a pandemic. According to the NC Department of Health and Human Services, North Carolina itself has had 146,779 COVID-19 cases so far. It’s safe to say the fear of contracting this virus or even passing it on to a loved one is very real, and so students should be given the full freedom to take classes however they like as long as they are keeping up with the coursework accordingly.
During my advisor meeting last week, she told me that she hasn’t been back to campus for months. They aren’t even allowed back to their offices, and many professors aren’t having in-person office hours either. So if some of their fellow professors are afraid to come back to campus, strict professors like those mentioned above should definitely be more understanding of why students are fearful.
More professors need to start adapting to student’s needs. Besides a pandemic to live through, students are faced with the lessening of social structure as social distancing requires reduced populations and get-togethers. Students may also be wary of going home because they want to avoid putting their family at risk — a college campus is a perfect place for the spread of this virus. My roommate was lucky enough to avoid her one in-person class, but this isn’t the case for many students on campus. NC State administration must hold professors accountable and not allow them to force or belittle any student into coming to an in-person course if not needed.
As per a recent article from Nubian Message, NC State is far from safe from this pandemic. So while some professors may prefer to hold in-person classes, students should not be forced to attend them during a serious pandemic like this.
