As an elementary school teacher, I have seen firsthand the issues that teachers are dealing with, and they are very different from even five years ago.

The issue that many were concerned with coming out of remote learning was “loss of learning” from not being in a traditional classroom for a year and a half. The major issue that we are really seeing across the board is the apathy students have developed. A majority of educators that I have spoken with have said that students have no interest in paying attention, want to complete all assignments on their computer and have lost any resilience. All of these areas go back to the environment that students were in during remote learning. All work was virtual, expectations for work completion were lessened, students were given leeway with assignments and were able to repeat assignments because of presumed learning loss.

Now, I have no issue with how schooling was handled during COVID, but I do believe that we haven’t been doing our students any justice by keeping some of the same standards that we established during remote learning. Students are much more capable than we are giving them credit. Students need to be given a chance to fail and learn how to work through roadblocks.

Logan Smith

Montville