Imagine an oatmeal raisin cookie. You don’t like raisins, but the cookie tastes alright, and you eat it anyway. Plus, you’ve been eating oatmeal raisin cookies for pretty much as long as you can remember. Now imagine that, suddenly, someone took all of the cookie part away and all you’re left with are some weird raisins that you don’t really like. The good part of the oatmeal raisin cookie is what made eating the raisins worth it, but now it’s gone.

This is what high school is now like for students all over the country. Being successful in the classroom is not easy, but what makes the hard work worth it for students are the enjoyable aspects of school life. What gets students through school five days a week is seeing classmates and teachers, going to sports games and musical performances, eating lunch with friends, or practicing the music or sport you’re passionate about. The excitement of these activities balances out the stress of learning. Without them, learning in school can become an overwhelmingly negative experience because there is little positivity to balance it out.

This is the reality students are currently living, attending school without any of the parts they love. Because they can no longer focus on the enjoyable parts of school life, to only focus on the aspects that are stressful and difficult seems unbearable. Even if students have the raw materials to learn, they are experiencing a devastating lack of excitement for life due to the current state of the world. 

For students to effectively participate in school online, they must be invested in it. To invest in anything, it has to seem worth it. When every element of school life that makes it feel worth it must be taken away, it makes learning ineffective and unsuccessful. Why would anyone want to eat the raisins without the oatmeal cookie?