Daniel Beccue
The landscape of modern education has been flipped upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic, forever changing the way students will approach getting that perfect GPA. Online learning was a savior during pandemic times, but it may lead to some undesired affects, read more to find out.
At the height of the infamous COVID pandemic, remote learning was introduced for students to continue their educational careers despite not being physically at school. Although digital learning was already on the rise, according to UNESCO, pandemic-related challenges over the past 18 months (about one and a half years) impacted 1.6 billion learners across 194 nations—over 90 percent of total enrolled learners. Of course, COVID-19 drastically changed the lives of everyone, but it did not just affect people; the mass induction of remote learning reshaped the educational landscape overnight, altering how far students can push their GPA and increasing competitiveness within schools, leading to a more significant disparity between our students.
Within a student’s four years of high school, they can take 28 classes, but once we introduce digital classes, that number skyrockets. Furthermore, due to online lessons only having a “recommended learning time,” students can finish courses within a month. Online classes allow highly competitive students to soar above their peers, leaving less inclined students in the dust. Furthermore, even among high-ranking students, the difference between valedictorian and #2 can come down to less than 0.5; this can often invalidate the efforts of the non-winding competitors, making their hours of slaving away feel meaningless. But Should students not be given every chance to succeed? If we have this many chances, would it not fall on you for not getting into your dream college? On the other hand, we must realize that not every student’s situation is the same; while others may be able to sacrifice their leisure time, some might not due to prior responsibilities.
We have the highest division in America between our high, average, and low-achieving students. For example, the average unweighted GPA for Florida Southwest College, which is considered a middle college (no disrespect to any FSW graduates), is 3.06, while the average unweighted GPA for an FSU applicant is 3.7. On the other hand, this is an inaccurate example as there is some middle ground between the two. However, Colleges with the Highest GPA in Florida (collegesimply.com) show that the top 20 collages have an average GPA of 4-3.6, but then spikes downwards for the whole 21-30, reaching an average GPA of 3.48-3.1, and it only goes down from here. However, what is interesting is these “low-achieving” students are not precisely unintelligent. Due to the massive disparity between high achieving and, quote on quote, low achieving students, students who would be considered average or even above average are out of classes by a small minority of accelerated students, making them look significantly worse.
So, what is the solution? To combat this, we must imply a strict number of online classes students can take. Although it may be considered wrong to limit high-achieving students from pursuing their passion for learning, this success comes at the cost of other students’ opportunities and, often their mental health.