It’s been about exactly two years since the COVID-19 pandemic began and everyone’s lives have changed so much since then. As vaccine and booster rates continue to rise and people grow more and more tired of wearing masks and staying in isolation, there’s been a lot of talking about “getting back to normal.” Even more recently, some schools and entire states within the United States are getting rid of mask mandates altogether.
However, it’s futile to pretend like there’s any way that the world will ever return to the way it was prior to the pandemic. Hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost, and an even greater number have been negatively affected by COVID-19 in one way or another. One of the largest groups whose lives have been forever changed are students trying to make it through college during this time.
As a college student myself, one of the biggest changes that I’ve seen is how different colleges and universities are handling the issues that have arisen from COVID-19 this school year compared to the previous ones. As the pandemic continues on, the resources that were once commonplace are no longer being used and professors are trying to move toward how classes were held and run. Zoom classes have gone away completely, leaving those who were more comfortable with this class setting struggling. Along with this, attendance policies are no longer as lenient as they were last year, with some professors going as far as marking students down entire letter grades for missing class. Students, especially those who are living on-campus, are at just as high a risk of contracting COVID-19 as they were last year, but now they no longer have the ability to attend some classes while in quarantine or isolation.
There is an intense amount of pressure on college students to try and be at the level of productivity and academic accomplishments that they were at before the start of the pandemic. This is a much greater task than I think professors understand it to be. COVID-19 has shown to have had a large negative impact on a majority of student’s mental health, which isn’t helped by these high expectations. Students feel as if so much is out of their control that it’s difficult to pretend like everything is alright. We constantly have to adjust to “new normals” that it’s difficult to enjoy the things we used to because nothing feels the same.
Current college students have dealt with a lot of changes over the past two years, and it’s especially hard to focus on paper and midterms when the state of the world seemingly continues to worsen each day. There’s pressure to pretend as if the pandemic isn’t still happening; as if people aren’t still getting sick and dying from COVID-19. Though we may not be under strict stay-at-home orders as we once were, doesn’t mean that the mental health issues faced during that time don’t still exist.
As someone who is graduating this spring, I find it especially hard to try and dedicate a lot of time and energy to schoolwork with graduation and everything that goes with that looming over my head. I used to be willing to pull all-nighters in order to get assignments done, but I can’t bring myself to do that anymore. As dramatic as it might sound, it’s hard to prioritize readings and discussion boards when it seems like the world is in a worse state every day.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, it was hard to keep up with the expectations of multiple classes at once. It’s overwhelming, especially around midterm and finals seasons, to try and keep up with every class continuing to pile work onto students. It seems like every professor expects students to make their class a priority, but it’s unfair to place the value of classes against one another.
These past few years haven’t been easy on anyone. Unfortunately, there is still a stigma around mental health, particularly as it pertains to the younger generation. As this semester continues, professors need to take into consideration everything that students are dealing with outside of their class. Students, remember that your mental and physical health should also come before your schoolwork. There’s only so much in the world that we can control, so we have to take advantage of what we can. We do have control over how we treat our bodies and minds.