New school

(Part of an ongoing account started on March 13, 2020 of how the spread of COVID-19 in our country and our government’s response has affected our lives.)

I feel sad.

I am preparing for the enrollment of my daughter for the schoolyear 2020-2021. She’s transferring because her old school does not offer her track of choice. Like all schools during this pandemic, her new school offers blended learning - a mix of online and offline methods.

Illustration by Bianca Bagnarelli
for The Economist

We know, though, that we cannot realistically expect face-to-face learning to resume any time soon since a vaccine has not yet been developed. This means she will have very limited interaction with people her age.

I feel sad because my daughter belongs to a generation that will grow up without all the perks (and disadvantages) of spontaneous social interaction in a physical setting.

She already misses her old school friends, with who she keeps in touch online. I’ve watched her struggle, then finally deal with the fact that she’s not seeing them before she goes off to another school.

That Dungeons and Dragons session they’d arranged to have at the house after their last set of final exams for the schoolyear was overtaken by the lockdown resulting from the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Of course, they have weekly sessions online, but it’s not the same. It even gets frustrating when the signal fluctuates, cutting online communications.

I sometimes wonder if this transfer is a good idea, given the very drastic change of lifestyle she’s had to adjust to. I wonder if I should just have her go to her old school but under the general track, so that she still retains a sense of “sameness” even if things have changed.

We decided on this transfer long before the pandemic. She was the one who asked to take the entrance exam. But I saw her mixed reaction when we got the results. She was proud to have qualified, yet hesitant about the prospect of losing her friends. She’s transferred schools before so she knows that eventually, she will lose them

Even under this new setup due to the pandemic, they will have less and less in common as she drifts away from the things they will share in the “same” school environment without her. Certainly, she will miss out on seeing any of them should a vaccine be developed and in-classroom sessions resume.

My daughter stands firm on attending this new school, despite repeated questioning. She is not entirely happy about it, but she’s made up her mind. I worry. I am not sure if she will make any real new connections online.

But life has to move beyond this pandemic. When things change, for the better or worse, I have to keep preparing her for a future where her credentials will matter. This new school has the expertise, skills, resources and network to move her in the direction she wants to go.

Of course, I might be wrong. The future might not be anything like we think it will be, so all these might just go squat. 

So I pray. This mother can only pray that we are making the right decision for a future that seems very uncertain right now. We can only prepare as best as we can and trust that God will do the rest.

DoH update: As of 4 p.m. of May 22, 2020, the Philippines has reported 13,597 confirmed coronavirus cases, including 3,092 recoveries and 857 deaths.