Going back to “normal”
As freshman and senior high schoolers across Shanghai are set to return to school campuses on April 27, 2020, all of us ponder the same questions: “I wonder how long I’ll survive with my quarantine sleep schedule and work ethic?”, “Can I get a refund?”, and most importantly, those of us with trust issues ask, “Are things actually on their way back to normal?”
And well, things definitely won’t be the same on the 27th given that a global pandemic has been a part of our reality. The truth is, no one knows how long it’ll take for things to settle back into normality. In a recent email to SMIC students and parents, several new rules to ensure safety and maintain a certain level of social distancing have been implemented, such as:
“Students should remain 1 meter apart at all times.”
“There will be no loitering, congregating, studying, or socializing allowed in the locker area. You must go from one class to the next once the bell rings.”
“For students that eat the cafeteria food, you will no longer have a choice between foods. You will be provided a lunch box.”
“Grade 7 and High School will eat lunch in their homerooms which will be assigned seating.”
Additionally, the library, library lounge, gymnasium, and workout shed are off limits, and students cannot linger in the buildings unless they’re visiting a teacher or participating in a club activity. Regardless of all of these rules, however, SMIC students acknowledge that they’re lucky to even have school reopen. We have a relatively small, local student body, and we live in a city where the virus has been better controlled. Because of these factors, it’s easier for health professionals and school administration to regulate students, make accurate health risk estimates, and implement a safety protocol.
This is certainly not the case for other institutions around the world—many high schools and universities in the US have been closed for the remainder of the semester. Ray Chang, an SMIC alumnus who now attends the School of Visual Arts, described New York City as a “ghost town” in the midst of the outbreak. Connie Wang, a previous SMIC student who is now a senior at Dougherty Valley High School, is under lockdown in California and won’t be able to see any of her classmates anytime soon or attend a graduation ceremony. Other universities, such as the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) have been shut down permanently due to a lack of revenue during the outbreak, compounded with previous debt. Several universities are preparing for online instruction for the 2020-2021 school year, and several Asian families are, for the first time in their lives, considering a gap year as an actual option for their children.
In a time like this, it’s feels as though all our lives are being put on hold. For incoming college freshmen, I can say through first-hand experience that it’s disappointing, to say the least, that our first college experience has boiled down to this— instead of being able to attend the universities we’ve worked to get into for the past four years, our basic safety is being put at risk. It’s especially easy to fall into a rut now. There’s nothing we can do but wait, and during this time, we need to learn how to keep ourselves accountable. Whether that’s making sure you’re working some exercise into your schedule, learning something new, or taking time to practice self-care, what you do to take care of yourself and manage your time will affect your mood exponentially. Additionally, you can take advantage of the resources that have become available during this time. Just to name a few:
- MasterClass, a service offering online classes in a wide range of subjects taught by leaders in their fields (we’re talking Gordon Ramsey on cooking, Martin Scorsese on filmmaking, Penn & Teller on magic and so on) is offering one free streaming class per week.
- A new chrome extension, Netflix Party, has been created because of social distancing: it’s a new way to watch Netflix with your friends online by synchronizing video playback and adding a group chat to your favorite Netflix shows and movies.
- So much free entertainment has been made available! Apple TV+ and HBO are free for a set time, Focus Features is live streaming movies for free on its Facebook page, Sling TV is now free during prime time, etcetera.
- Audible has made hundreds of titles free— “The audiobook platform has said that, for as long as schools are closed, anyone can listen to a vast selection of its titles. This means books read by Westworld’s Thandie Newton and Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens are available to stream at no cost at all.”
- There’s a free three-months of guitar lessons from Fender available online.
And those are just a few examples! Please remember to take care of yourselves and stay hopeful— although everything around us seems to be anything but normal, staying occupied and having things to look forward to will get us through.
Featured Image— Chairs longing for some company Courtesy of DeviantArt
by Jessie Wu