Students nationwide have been cooped up inside their rooms attending school online rather than attending in-person school, including those at Columbia Heights High School (CHHS). The isolation students have endured for the past year because of the pandemic has greatly affected their mental health and social skills. Hybrid learning offers an excellent opportunity for students to develop the social contact and hands-on learning experience they need, as well as keep proper safety precautions.

“In my eyes, online learning isn’t an adequate form of education,” Henry Mai (12) said. “Students need social interactions with teachers and peers and the experience of learning in a classroom.”

Hybrid learning combines online with face-to-face learning, meaning half of the students would stay at home and learn online while the other half would be in the building interacting with students and peers, and then they’d switch off. At Columbia Heights High School, that would mean an ‘A’ group would attend school in-person on Mondays and Tuesdays, a ‘B’ group would attend on Wednesday and Thursdays, and everyone would learn online on Fridays.

Hybrid learning offers a great opportunity for students to develop that social interaction they have been drastically missing out on. Even the most creative and engaging teachers still struggle to get students to interact and form connections over Zoom. It also allows them to ease back into in-person school by keeping online school as a regularly scheduled component of their education.

Going back to in-person learning before the end of the 2021 school year could be a great thing for seniors as well. Seniors will get their last chance to have a somewhat normal in-school experience during the spring before graduation and starting the next chapters of their lives. This includes milestones like prom and one final battle cry at a pep fest, yes, but it also brings emotional closure and the chance to do better on final AP tests and get one-on-one help on preparing for life after high school.

“I think going to a hybrid form of school is great for students,” Jonathan Dereje (12) said. “It allows them to get out of the house and have social interaction for the first time in a while.”

It can also give some relief to the teachers because they will only see students half the time in-person, and while the stress of teaching both on Zoom and in-person simultaneously is worrying, it’s still better than having a daily sea of black boxes on a screen that may or may not be paying attention at any given moment. Seeing teachers in school, even if only once or twice a week, can also give students the support and structure they need whilst maintaining the flexibility and safety that comes with online school. 

Although some may think bringing students and teachers back to school may be too risky, with proper safety precautions and more vaccinations being taken, the risk can be lowered. This upcoming Friday, the district will be holding a clinic for a vast majority (possibly all) of Columbia Heights Public Schools teachers to be vaccinated, which is an added reason for students and teachers to come back to school. Being vaccinated against COVID-19 decreases the likelihood of transmission greatly. Also, students and teachers will only be meeting half the time, which will decrease risks even more.

Students have been greatly affected by the significant change in learning style. While distance learning has pushed students to become more self-motivated, it has also prevented them from developing the social experiences you would normally see in a typical classroom setting. Switching over to hybrid learning would be the first, and really only viable, step to getting things back to somewhat normal again.