Class of 2020 hijacked by a Virus

“There is no education like adversity”  - Disraeli

Last week marked the moment that our 2020 final year students completed the last chapter of their school life. What a $!&!#!*!  year it was! The cherry on top of all school years has certainly got to be your final year when all the traditional celebrations and rites of passages occur: year 12 graduation, school farewell, annual awards ceremony, school leadership roles, school formal, your last school production or school athletics carnival, driving your friends around with a bona fide driver’s licence, 18th birthday party(for many) and schoolies(a beach celebration for school leavers in Australia). However for the Class of 2020, Covid has robbed them of what is touted as being the best and most memorable year of their teenage lives. True, some generations had it tougher during the war years, depression and recession but it still sucks. 

The year started like any other with year 12 students entering the hallowed halls of their schools bright-eyed and bushy-tailed with aspirations of making it their best year yet. Resplendent in fresh uniforms, armed with the year’s book lists and stationery and an eager and optimistic attitude towards their studies, they were ready for the challenges that this all-important school year would throw at them. Never in their wildest dreams did they expect the insidious Covid-19 virus would be hurtling towards them at breakneck speed to wreak havoc on their precious, final school year. 

It is not just the big ceremonies and celebrations that were missed but also the little, insignificant moments that all contribute to this coming-of-age year: like studying in the library, attending career workshops, enjoying little moments with friends, mucking up in the common room, making plans for overseas experience, deliberating with your besties about the trendiest colour or sexiest cut for the ball gown, agonising over whether your crush will ask you to be your partner for the school formal. It is these mundanities too that collectively  make up the final year which will be etched in their  minds more than any other. What a devastating loss for our school leavers of 2020 who for the most part were out of their normal school setting as they battled the the year remotely and online. 

Their last year of school was literally turned upside down for the 2020 cohort: an academic year that is usually ordered and organised in military-like precision in neat sections of covering curriculum, well-planned study sessions and the mandatory tests and exams was suddenly up in the air. Instead of forging and cementing friendships in the final year which many say last a lifetime, the students had to social distance and isolate. Ploughing through the complex course work is tough enough but to be suddenly thrown in the deep end in terms of the delivery and disruptions made the senior year even harder to contend with. Overnight, traditional classroom settings were replaced by Zoom sessions which unsettled many because of technical difficulties and unfamiliar territory in terms of lesson delivery. 

In Australia, the Corona virus pandemic was just another “first” for the 2020 cohort who will turn out to be the most resilient bunch yet because of other changes that they endured during their school career. They made up the first year of compulsory prep school when it was trialed in 2008, they were the first year 7 classes who were removed from primary school and newly housed in high schools, and in Queensland it is the first year that Year 12 students are sitting the newly introduced ATAR exams which other states are familiar with. No other peace time school leavers had to deal with the changes that our 2020 cohort had to struggle through with such unprecedented disruptions in their education. 

As it often is, the best laid plans in life go awry and in times like these, the inspirational words of Oprah Winfrey can be so motivating: “Turn your wounds into wisdom”. Adversity is unwelcome and  inevitable but it does not have to define who we intrinsically are. We can overcome our mishaps, misfortunes and mistakes to still find happiness and conquer our goals. Every metaphorical demon we successfully slay, serves to strengthen our will, our confidence and our ability to confront future obstacles. What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger, right?

It is often during a time of upheaval that the most soulful reflections are made. The class of 2020 had a taste first-hand to do without in terms of rationing and restrictions that were put in place. The products of decades of economic prosperity, these school leavers have never really faced financial hardship. Unlike our generation that studied after leaving school so that we could fast track to a career that would ensure our economic survival, this Generation Z were more into higher order thinking like: what vocation would align to my moral values, is the career direction I pursue based on ethics, how can I add value to the world as a environmentally conscious individual and for many school leavers, work-related ambitions were a distant thought as they planned for the overseas gap year. Suddenly, international travel is not happening in the foreseeable future and jobs are few and far between as big conglomerates have become bankrupt. The immediate future looks bleak and our school leavers this year will no doubt face the brunt of economic hardship. The silver lining though has to be the time honoured truth which proves that in times of trouble, creativity and ingenuity comes to the fore. This has to be a positive thing, surely.

So, in these extraordinary times when our education system the world over has witnessed the most cataclysmic catastrophe in the history of education, the Class of 2020 will emerge as the most resilient, most creative and most compassionate cohort not in spite of, but because of the significant challenges that they had to face. Instead of bemoaning what has been lost from this watershed, final school year because of the pandemic,let us focus on the blessings in the form of lessons that came in its wake like learning to adapt, to be flexible, to be creative, to problem solve and to communicate better - invaluable life skills that are not part of the senior year school syllabus but smart skills which will no doubt hold us in good stead for the unpredictable future. 

So, Class of 2020, never for a moment think you were disadvantaged. On the contrary, you were the chosen ones, the lucky ones, because you share a bond that goes beyond borders with your global peers  and having experienced the limitations of our education system that was glaringly exposed through the virus, you are the best persons to redefine our dismal education system that have been trust upon us for centuries without heeding all forms of changes. You represent true grit. Go out and dream big! Oh, and also, thank you, Covid-19, for usurping the traditional teacher’s role and delivering to the senior students of 2020 the best life lessons they will ever experience.