During Omicron, NYC schools feel dull, lonely, and scary
I’m a high school sophomore who hated learning from home. But right now remote is the better option.
I’m a sophomore at Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn. I learned remotely all last year and hated it. Still, I made the best of the situation by keeping my camera on and “going to class” every day. It wasn’t how I had expected to begin high school, and it took a toll on my mental health.
This past fall, I was super happy to resume in-person learning and got right into the swing of classes and clubs. I met people whom I had only known as boxes on a screen, and I had the opportunity to take more advanced courses, which quelled some of my boredom in school.
But with the rise in Omicron cases, in-person learning is doing my classmates and me more harm than good. Mayor Eric Adams, just a couple of weeks into his term, says New York City families need schools to stay open, that it’s safer this way. As someone who has spent the past couple of weeks inside a New York City public school building, I’m here to say that we cannot afford to continue with this version of school. It’s time to go remote.