Giovani Castillo

FIQWS 10108

10/04/2020

Introduction

            As ever day goes by, we are creating history whether they are good or bad events. In recent times there has been a major event that has affected everybody on earth, some more than others but nevertheless has affected everybody. This major event is the outbreak of COVID-19. This outbreak has affected the world socially, economically, and culturally. For students it the transition to remote learning, they’re trying to learn in a home setting which can be difficult for many to adjust to for both students and parents. This can also be a problem for the less fortunate students that don’t have access to the internet, this can hinder the learning process for many students. With many restrictions put on businesses, due to the pandemic, many of the workers have been heavily impacted financially. With no clear estimate as to when the virus may be cured, many of these workers had to depend on their savings. Their savings would only last them so long until they had to return to work which could potentially expose them to the virus. The first cases were reported in Wuhan, China which quickly turned to a cultural and social problem due to the ignorance of people. There was this hatred built up due to all the restrictions enforced on people and decided to let it out on the Asian community. The Asian community were facing a form of racism and prejudice for something that they didn’t cause. With many sources showing the different perspectives of people during the pandemic and research conducted, we as the readers can see how the virus has impacted us as a society.

Scholarly Source

            Covid-19 has implemented many restrictions and has made people quarantine in order to avoid catching the virus, this posed as a major problem to the school system. Due to the virus spreading so fast it gave schools very little time to prepare for online schooling. It was a challenge for both sides, the teachers had to arrange a way for them to teach their students and students had to make sure they had everything they needed in order to keep learning. Tsvetelina Mladenova, Yordan Kalmukov and Irena Valova authors of Covid 19 – A Major Cause of Digital Transformation in Education or Just an Evaluation Testa, a journal where they were able to show their research on what the best way of online learning would be for both teachers and students. The rhetorical situation in this text is that a mixture of both synchronous and asynchronous would be the best mix for both students and teachers. Tsvetelina Mladenova, Yordan Kalmukov and Irena Valova were able to gather research and published it through a journal for the reader to read it. They were able to get the perspective of the side that would get mostly impacted which are the students. In the text it states, “According to their results, 50% of the students declare they receive less knowledge from e-learning in comparison to the traditional onsite learning.” This shows that students themselves felt that they would not receive the same type of education online as they would in person. This is a problem because schools can’t expect for a system to work when half of the students don’t believe in the system. This can lead to the motivation of the students and their willingness to attend class. It also states in the text, “Students who are willing to attend 100% of the classes will do it regardless of the form of education.” When onsite learning was still in session some students wouldn’t attend school, but now that school is online it will only make it easier for students to not attend their classes. Another issue with this is that teachers were not given enough time to adapt to this new system. As it states in the text, “Teachers should be given enough time to adapt their existing and develop new teaching and examination materials suitable for eLearning and eExamination.” Teachers need to figure out the best ways to teach their students without the students not learning or having to resort to cheating. Overall, the authors of text were able to gather information from multiple perspectives and evaluate it to give their best suggestions and ideas.

Social Media Post

            When it comes to education it’s important to get the perspective of the students to see how Covid-19 is affecting their education. This twitter post can relate to the scholarly source because it shows how a student is reacting to the new system. The rhetorical situation in this post is that the new online learning system is not effective for students. The user @Rishika5000 can publish their thoughts through Twitter for their followers and for other Twitter users while also using the hashtags #AcademicEaseNow and #remotelearning to further spread their post. This helps to support the claim that online learning is a difficult practice to adapt to especially when somebody is thrown into it. This also shows how Covid-19 has affected students learning in a negative way. As the user said “we are simply just submitting assignments” this shows how students aren’t really learning but simply just trying to finish their assignments.

Magazine Article

            Unemployment has been one of the major economic issues that came as a result from Covid-19. With all the health precautions that had to be made in order to minimize the case numbers of the virus, the workers that are needed onsite were mainly affected. The unemployed had to depend on the unemployment checks as well as their savings, it was worse for those that didn’t qualify for the unemployment benefits that had to rely on their savings. In the magazine article We can end America’s unemployment nightmare by Emily Stewart the rhetorical situation is that America should focus on helping the unemployed in order to help keep the economy up. Emily Stewart, the author, can publish her magazine article through The Highlight by Vox which is accessible through their website for readers to access it. With the article Stewart is able to show the story of Erin Suggs, a 50-year-old mother of 2 who works at a salon, and her struggle with getting unemployment benefits. The sole purpose of this magazine article is not simply to show Erin Suggs struggle but the struggle that many other unemployed workers faced during the outbreak. In the text it states, “In order to help employed Americans, we have to help unemployed Americans, too. It’s good for the economy.” In order for America’s economy to stay up they should make the unemployment benefits more accessible in order to keep them on their feet. If they help the unemployed then that will ensure that when all the restrictions are lifted, then they will be able to go back to work and in return help America’s economy.

Newspaper Article

            A cultural and social problem that came out of the outbreak was a form of racism that was built towards the Asian community. In the newspaper article Spit On, Yelled At, Attacked: Chinese-Americans Fear for Their Safety, authors Sabrina Tavernise and Richard A. Oppel Jr. were able to show the struggles that the Asian community have faced because of Covid-19. The rhetorical situation is that the Asian community should not facing problems like racism especially in the situation that the world is in. Tavernise and Oppel can share this news article by publishing it on The New York Times which readers can access to read this news article and many others. Like everybody the Asian community has take care of themselves in order to not expose themselves to the virus, but they also had to watch out for the ignorance of others. In the news article it states, “Not only are they grappling like everyone else with how to avoid the virus itself, they are also contending with growing racism in the form of verbal and physical attacks. Other Asian-Americans — with families from Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Myanmar and other places — are facing threats, too, lumped together with Chinese-Americans by a bigotry that does not know the difference.” This highlights how ignorant people can be when families like their own are trying to be safe and shield themselves from the virus.

Conclusion

            In times like these people should be coming together and helping each other. Nobody should be having to worry about staying safe from the virus and having to face racism. When it comes to unemployment, America should be helping the unemployed to stay on their feet for them to return to work to help with America’s economy. Schools should be trying to find the best ways in order for their students to receive their education with ease. Once a cure for the virus has been found and restrictions have been lifted schools should work hard to bring students back on track to get the education they deserve. Covid-19 has made its mark in history and is continuing to do so but we have to recover and come back stronger.  

Works Cited

1.Tsvetelina Mladenova, Yordan Kalmukov, Irena Valova.(2020).Covid 19 – A Major Cause of Digital Transformation in Education or Just an Evaluation Test.TEM Journal, 9(3), 1163-1170.

2. Tavernise, S. and Oppel Jr., R., 2020. Spit On, Yelled At, Attacked: Chinese-Americans Fear For Their Safety. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/us/chinese-coronavirus-racist-attacks.html>.

3. Stewart, Emily. “We Can End America’S Unemployment Nightmare”. Vox, 2020, https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/21430930/covid-unemployment-600-cares-act-the-great-rebuild.

4. Rishika(Rishika500). “No college kids are learning right now…we are simply just submitting assignments.” Sep 21,2020 , 3:49 AM. Tweet.