Covid-19: Dont Panic. Just Plan It.

As a counsellor passionate about my job, I am always on the phone with parents, exchanging ideas with them, working out projects, discussing their child’s progress, keeping tabs on scores, ensuring students have set measurable goals and have the energy and enthusiasm to exceed these goals. Over the past few weeks, however, a sense of despair has crept into the questions and discussions.

• “My child simply does not like doing online courses” 
• “My child is an athlete. Now she has to sit at home for 18 hours staring at a screen! Is it even fair to make her worry about her profile work at the moment?” 
• “Several colleges are going test-optional. Why bother with test prep?”
• “Can’t we just wait for this Covid-19 situation to resolve itself before resuming college prep?”

What all these questions reveal is a conviction that post Covid-19, it will be a less competitive world where everyone will be treated with greater understanding and admissions will become less competitive. Unfortunately that is just not true. 

Think about epidemics in history. The Spanish flu, the several plagues, SARS. Were it not for Covid-19 how many of us would have thought back to these forbidding times when humanity had no choice but to persevere and innovate and move forward? What makes Covid-19 any different? Just because we are quarantined does not mean that the world has actually stopped moving. To think so would be dangerous for the future of our businesses, our goals, and our lives. At no point in our lives will careful planning and action be more crucial than today. Most importantly, we need to be ready to take a leap of faith when the situation demands it.

As an educator I firmly believe that the world will continue, things will come back to normal and everything will move forward but perhaps with a new way of looking at things. Social distancing is here to stay and with it new forms of communities where meeting people online, cooking instead of going to a restaurant, and a greater regard and gratitude for home become the new norms.

Most importantly, we need to keep hope alive inside us and with it the passion for change. Avoid giving in to a panic attack. Right now we are living in a dangerous echo chamber where our anxiety keeps inviting in negative thoughts. We are in real danger of listening to only what confirms our suspicions and anxieties. We are more likely to be swayed by the pessimism of a few peers than by The Economist’s objective analysis of Covid-19’s impact on Big Tech. What is even more dangerous is passing on our anxieties to our children and taking away their sense of control and adding to their sense of alienation from everyday life and progress.  

Now more than ever we should allow our children to keep working and exploring their own potential. They should not be made to feel that whatever they have working on so far has suddenly lost meaning and purpose.

Let me address some of the most common attitudes and misgivings I have come across in my recent conversations.

Let’s wait for Covid-19 to get over  

My take here is simple. We are not going to recover from the effects of Covid-19 overnight. Do not jeopardize your children's future, just sitting and waiting it out. Keep an eye out for new opportunities for learning, skill-building and contributing. There is so much a child can do at home such as cooking, baking, practicing yoga, meditation, learning a new instrument or dance form, gardening. The world of online courses is enormous in itself. They can learn a new language, start coding, explore financial modeling, try their hands at writing and so on. Maintaining a daily journal is another excellent way to stay motivated.

We are under great emotional stress because of the quarantine

Emotional turmoil should give way to a higher emotional quotient. This is the moment to stand your ground, hold on to your goals instead of giving in to emotional decision making. This is a time when you should capitalize on the safety your place in society has given you and look at new opportunities. Do not give in to what psychologists term 'learned helplessness'. If you end up doing recreational activities you will not feel this way. Always remember that you are blessed. You are living in the comfort of your home with all the basic necessities and comforts taken care of. You aren’t in this alone. Keep taking it one day at a time with small steps towards achieving your goals. I use a lot of sticky notes- I write down my long term goal, break it down into several immediate targets and then set down to achieving them one at a time.

How can we do any resume work?

There are enough opportunities for contribution at this time. There is also a wealth of opportunities to work with researchers in collecting data on Covid19 through surveys. Furthermore, you can and should help in your own community in this time of real need. One of our students, for instance, has started a math website where peers help each other understand math concepts, another has started an anxiety management website. Another student is motivating peers to enjoy online learning. If the school year is going to be online, it is best to wake up to the new reality and collaboratively explore its possibilities. There are multiple NGOs who are feeding the daily wagers, one can do online fundraisers or help with their social media communication.

Here are two links that will show you how students can contribute effectively to society from home while also building their profiles. 

ncovindia.com - This is a website by Prof Debayan MIT, encouraging collaborative efforts by students in terms of collating data.

calmduringcovid19.com - This is a peer mentoring initiative by a student- officially supported by her school. 

With so many colleges going test-optional, do we still need to worry about the ACT or the SAT? 

In a word, yes. Just because colleges are going test-optional does not mean that the admissions process has become any less demanding. Let’s not forget that a high SAT or ACT score is a reliable data point that colleges use to evaluate candidates. In fact the relevance of these scores go beyond college to even your child’s career. Test optional does not mean tests have lost relevance. For example, for University of Chicago and NYU when the results came out, Covid-19 situation had started. They just put more candidates on the waitlist but did not relax their admission requirements. Furthermore, think about the efforts made by testing bodies such as ETS and Collegeboard. Do you really think they would go through so much trouble to make testing possible in perhaps newer formats and at-home if tests were truly to become a thing of the past?

My child lacks motivation when it comes to online classes 

With summer schools gone online and classes in top colleges around the world moving effectively to an online learning environment, this is the right time to motivate your child to adapt to the unique demands and strategies of online learning. Motivation is the result of careful planning, achievable goals, and a clear perspective on how a specific activity fits into the overall career path. Once your children understand just how crucial online learning opportunities are for their success in life and in their chosen career path, they will be invested in such classes.

You must continue with your child’s learning trajectory. Whenever this settles down, six months or a year down the line, don’t be at the losing end.