Pandemic disrupts life for Class of 2020
By Roy Ockert Jr.
Two or three weeks ago someone had the idea that people could express support for this year’s high school seniors by posting their own senior pictures on Facebook or other social media. The coronavirus pandemic has wiped out the closing months of school for the Class of 2020.
At first that sounded like a good idea, and I even dug up one of my senior pictures. But on second thought I decided it wasn’t.
My senior year was, by comparison, a happy time — the end of my years in the Hot Springs school system and a new beginning for a college career at then-Arkansas State College. My class was treated to all the customary ceremonies — awards assembly, baccalaureate, commencement and, best of all, the senior party.
Most members of the Class of 2020 will have none of that, unless it comes later. Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Saturday that no traditional high school graduation ceremonies will be allowed in Arkansas until July 1. Most of them also had their senior prom canceled. I suppose you could have commencement with Zoom but certainly not a prom.
The last two months or so of their senior year — the culmination of years preparing for life in the “real world” — have been reduced to online classes of some sort. Of course, that’s possible because of today’s technology.
Commencement ceremonies bring families together — even broken ones — to celebrate a transition of life, a coming of age, for our youth, who, as all the commencement speakers say, are the future. Who knows what it will mean if this year’s seniors get no such sendoff?
It’s also sad that the school year came to such an abrupt ending because of the relationships developed between teachers and students. Some of the most influential people in my life were my teachers; I’d hate to have been robbed of any time with them.
But I wasn’t. My senior years, both in high school and college, were normal, happy times. My A-State commencement was even more of a celebration because Pat and I got married the next day.
So I didn’t post my high school picture because I can’t really fathom what this is like for today’s seniors.
Besides, someone else pointed out that posting your high school photo might help scammers pinpoint information about you that they could use — i.e., the year you graduated, where you went to high school, its mascot, even the year of your birth. Many who posted senior pictures have taken them down.
It may be that no American high school class has ever experienced anything like this. I’ve looked for similar events in history and find none.
The Class of 1942 may have suffered through a greater tragedy. The bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, dragged the United States into World War II, and that had a dramatic effect on American education for years to come.
In a 2016 article for The Edvocate, “Uncovering the Devastating Impact of World War II on American Education,” Matthew Lynch wrote:
“Both teachers and youth left the classroom to enlist. Dropouts became common, and school enrollments declined even further. High school enrollments were down from 6.7 million in 1941 to 5.5 million in 1944. By 1944, only two-thirds of the pre-war teaching force was still teaching.”
No doubt, many members of the Class of 1942, as well as others in school, left the classroom and never returned.
That’s not really similar to what we have today, but the impact was probably greater in the long term for young Americans.
Jonesboro High School had a major disruption in 1973, after a series of tornadoes on May 27 destroyed the high school building. JHS was able to hold its graduation ceremony on campus later, but the impact was felt for at least a couple of years.
My friend, Elbert Frazier, returned to the “classroom” — I use that term loosely — in the fall of 1973. His math classroom was at the old fairgrounds, where curtains served as walls in the large building normally used for exhibitions. The next year, he recalled, he moved up to a portable building, and the new JHS was occupied in the spring of 1975.
Other schools have certainly had similar disruptions, but nothing like the pandemic of 2020, which stopped real classes across the country for most of the spring. OK, they’ve had “virtual” classes, but it’s not the same.
We should also not underestimate the effect of the pandemic on the lives of college seniors. While the ceremonies marking graduation from college may not be as important to many receiving degrees — some aren’t even required to attend — this is still a major transition for them.
Seniors graduating from college normally spend their last months on campus attending awards ceremonies, applying for jobs, seeking graduate assistantships, preparing for a move, even planning weddings.
Imagine looking for a job in today’s economy, where 26.5 million people have filed for unemployment benefits in a matter of weeks. Many college students have lost part-time jobs that helped them stay in school.
So here’s to the senior classes of 2020: May you rise above all this and be better for the experience.
Roy Ockert is a former editor of The Jonesboro Sun, The Courier at Russellville and The Batesville Guard. He can be reached at royo@suddenlink.net.