Should teachers be more lenient with their grading and assignments given?

With all the things going on with the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 was not the year. Many students have had to overcome the issues that COVID-19 have brought to the table the best way they can – grappling with the issues of online education as they come up.

Online school has taken away many things – sports, time away from family, and overall knowledge of students – and with students being at home there is no oversight for many of them. While teachers are teaching, students have access to their phones and electronic devices with no-one to keep them in line. Teachers are doing their best to keep students interacting in their lessons and lectures, but sitting in your room, or on your bed or couch, can make distractions come even easier and as a teenager it isn’t uncommon for those things to happen. 

And it’s not just local students that are facing these issues.

According to Jackson Sangillo, a student in San Diego, the workload coupled with the uncertainty is taking its toll on students throughout California. 

“Online schooling has definitely been hard – I have ADHD so paying attention has always been a struggle even when going to school,” Sangillo said. “My teachers give countless assignments and it’s hard staying on top and focused on these things since everything is always on the computer.

“It gets exhausting worrying about all the homework I need to get done, and after a long day of sitting on my computer working on hours of homework can really tear you down.” 

And students at other schools in Modesto are singing a similar tune.

Dylan Zador, a student at Gregori High School in Modesto, has been struggling not only with the workload, but also staying engaged with digital lessons that rarely measure up to the in-school instruction that students are used to. 

“It definitely is different – we’ve had many obstacles and we just have to overcome them. It hasn’t been too hard, class gets boring after a while of just sitting there, but when it comes to the work given it’s not too hard,” Zador said. “One thing I do wish for is having a little more time on assignments and a little leniency if I couldn’t get to an assignment in time. I have a few teachers who refuse to let us turn in work even for half credit.

“With that being said, missing just one assignment can have a huge affect on my grade.” 

Both students had different feedback on online schooling, but one they had in common was not having enough time for certain assignments given. Students are working hard to do the best they can under the circumstances they are in, this is why they should be given a little bit of a break when it comes to hardcore grading by some teachers.

It not only allows the students more time to catch up on their homework but it also gives them more time to sit down and really learn the material they have been given. 

Ultimately, students are doing their best during these hard times with Covid-19.