How do kids feel about being locked out of school during the crisis? Let them tell you

There’s been a revelation among some schoolchildren who have spent a month locked out of their classrooms due to the coronavirus pandemic: They miss their teachers, their friends, the campus social life.

And they wouldn’t mind taking a break from technology for real chats and interaction with classmates.

“It’s boring,” says seventh-grader Javier Alonso. “But at least I get to better my grades. Better than nothing.”

Since Miami-Dade County Public Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho declared the “emergency closure” for all schools, which took effect on March 16, students have turned to computers for their daily dose of education.

The Miami Herald interviewed several students to find out what it’s like to stay home and learn via virtual lessons. Here is what a handful had to say:

“I prefer to go to school because it’s really boring staying home all day and never going outside to see your friends,” said Arturo Arrechea, a student at Miami Arts Charter School.

His sister Dalia Arrechea, an eighth-grader, doesn’t necessarily agree: “When you’re at home, you can just learn faster and you have less time to talk.”

“Online learning isn’t as bad as I expected, the teachers always get to teach their lesson and we do activities that we wouldn’t be able to do in class,” she said, adding that she enjoys “being able to just wake up like three minutes before the class starts. ... It gives me more time to sleep and feel more calm in the morning.“

But tech glitches can get frustrating.

“Sometimes in the middle of class the Wi-Fi will crash and I’ll get kicked off the Zoom and I’ll have to text my friends to ask the teacher if they can let me back in and sometimes even the teachers glitch out of the call,” Dalia said. “Also the audio sucks for most of the students and I can never understand what they’re saying.”

Said Academy Charter School West fourth-grade student Esteban de la Nuez: “I don’t get to see my friends and I think it’s harder to do it online because my teachers aren’t here.”

“This can’t explain to you what to do,” he added, pointing to his laptop.

And this morsel of wisdom from Victoria Herrera, an eighth-grader at South Miami Middle School:

“I think that this negative experience can lead us to realizing the value of school or human interactions, which we would usually take for granted.”

This story was originally published April 16, 2020 at 6:00 AM.