26 OPI NIO N
SIN Vol. 22 Issue 05
Third level institutions’ reliance on research distracts from the college experience Conor Brummell NUI Galway last week released findings from a ‘Schooling from Home’ study, that analysed the effects of learning online for students in primary and secondary school. The survey results in themselves were pretty conclusive; a small majority of primary school participants (52%) and a large majority of second-level participants (73%) felt that they had learned less at home than at school, and the survey showed that interest in learning from home declined over time. Increased stress and anxiety amongst parents and participants were also cited as a reason for why schools should remain open, regardless of how high levels of Covid-19 are within the community, The survey’s findings are stark, condemning online learning for young people. Eyebrows have also been raised over the lack of detailed research available in this area on Third-Level students, the majority of whom are undertaking their studies outside of a classroom setting this year. Third level institutions and schools closed on the 12th of March, after it was announced that they would remain closed for a period of four weeks (two weeks of Easter, and a further two weeks to combat the spread of a virus that was relatively unknown at the time). This obviously lasted the length of lockdown, and summer, and students from primary, secondary and third level undertook schooling remotely. Schools however re-opened in September, in what was cited as being necessary. Universities were to follow suit at the end of September- but a government U-turn two days before lectures were to commence
stopped that plan in its tracks. Students had flocked to cities, leaving the comfort of their homes on the premise that there would be a hybrid model of faceto-face lectures and online-learning. This didn’t happen and lectures were moved online for a full semester, in what was a historic and unprecedented move, done in the name of public health. We are now half-way through week eight of the first ever online semester for full-time college students. I am eight weeks into my final year at NUI Galway, and I must admit the transition to online lectures has been difficult. I was on work placement last year, and as such, I had no experience with online learning. I was looking in from the outside at all my friends who had progressed to final year whilst I was working, and I thought to myself, rather naively, how hard could it be? I presumed that by September that this virus would have been sorted and life would get back to normal. Instead, this year is far from normal. It has become a checklist of assignments, and more so about keeping your head above water instead of engaging with course material. It has become blackscreened podcasts, as lecturers upload pre-recorded lectures online and students struggle to keep up. The emphasis is more on your ability to manage your time effectively, and get everything done, rather than engaging with classmates and tutors in an immersive classroom debate. It is emails, Whatsapp group chats, and Blackboard breakout rooms. It is Zoom Calls, and blue-light glasses to offset the headaches from so much screen-time on laptops. It is pandemic fatigue, mixed with college midterms, and suddenly it is the realisation
that you have forgotten to do tutorial readings. It becomes late nights and long hours spent trying to catch up. It has become elongated periods of not seeing your closest friends or your family members and feeling guilty for not replying to them online when they text because you’re too tired to. Online learning has been marketed as flexible. Sure, we have all the time in the world now that everywhere is closed, and we don’t have to commute to a physical lecture hall. That very idea has mutated, however, and it has now become a sense of having to be accessible and switched-on twenty-four seven. Once you close your laptop, the lectures stop- but the emails, and the Whatsapp groups keep going, discussing what needs to be done. Blackboard keeps on being updated. It’s a hectic existence, and it’s hard to keep going. What is hurting students more, however, is not the online learning. It’s not the pubs being closed, or the lack of social spaces. It’s not what could have been, or what will be. We understand the times we are living in, and these are just a symptom of the times. It’s the fact that Universities like NUI Galway can publish research about the effects of online learning on secondary and primary school students, and in the same breath charge students €295 for repeat exams they have to complete from home. It is the idea that a student contribution fee of €224 can still be charged, despite little to no access to campus for the majority of the student population (except for those who have labs to attend). It’s the fact that the biggest consolation we have received is a weekly wellness email, which reiterates what we already know: the supports available
to us lie with the college counselling service, or by texting a confidential helpline if we are struggling to cope. Both are important and needed; but the crux of the matter is that the institution who so valiantly shows the effects of a broken model on children younger than us, also ignores us. They have ignored the need for social spaces, and study spaces for those who did move to Galway. They have ignored the fact that there is no standardisation in teaching online, too- that some lectures are live and others are pre-recorded. That some students do not know what some lecturers look like, because they have not met them face-to-face, even in a virtual manner. They have ignored the fact they asked us to move to a city we did not need to and were not protected under law to get private accommodation deposits back for when things went online. That is also not to say that all lecturers are out of touch. Some are great, and kind and do everything to help. It’s also not to say that the student body haven’t anyone to turn to- the Students’ Unions across the country are trying their utmost best to better the situation. It’s just unfortunate that the system they are trying to come terms with is the same one we are struggling with. NUI Galway haven’t announced whether we will be online for semester two. They once again have delayed the communication, and left students in the lurch, much like in September when it was announced we would be online two days before college commenced. It’s inevitable that lectures will remain online, but much has to give to make it bearable, and not make it feel like high tide has poured in from Blackrock and left us drowning in a sea of paperwork.
Unlocking your full potential and refusing to cruise by at forty percent — Lessons can be learned from Ultra-Runner David Goggins Donagh Broadrick David Goggins should have been just another unfortunate statistic in our society. Abusive father, single mother, learning disabilities, apathetic teachers in poor rural schools, a pregnant girlfriend, an African American who experienced racism first-hand growing up in Brazil, Indiana. Later in life he would be diagnosed with the sickle cell trait and discover he had a hole in the atrium of his heart. David had every reason to quit and say he wasn’t meant to be anyone great. Today he is known as an ultra-marathon runner and triathlete, the man who set a world record for pull ups. He is the only man in history to become a navy seal, an air force tactical air controller and an army ranger, who undertook three hell-weeks finishing on broken legs and even attempted to join Delta Force, the United States’ most elite Special Forces Unit. He also served a tour in Iraq. At age 45 Goggins is now a volunteer fighting forest fires in California alongside men half his age. Throughout his life Goggins sought out the hard path and a lot of the time the hard path found him whether he liked it or not. He put himself in uncomfortable situations to callous his mind. This is how David refers to the process of mentally toughening yourself by doing what makes you uncomfortable or what you are afraid of. In his case, he was able to teach himself to swim and conquer his fear of the water so that he could join the navy seals. Goggins didn’t have good genes or the right background and yet has managed to do more in twenty years
than most of us will do our entire lives. The man confronted his inner demons to master his mind to push himself past the 40 percent we all cruise by in life at. When Goggins ran his first hundred-mile marathon, he did so to raise money for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, a foundation that gives college and other financial grants to the children of fallen Special Operations soldiers. The experience left his body, which was thick and muscular and thus completely unsuited for the endurance requirements of running, shattered and badly broken. Later in life he would discover he was so jacked up and tight that his body was beginning to shut down which would require hundreds of hours of stretching to rectify. His legs were so badly fractured after his third hell week attempt, he would have to complete BUDs training, a rigorious underwater SEAL fitness test, by binding them in tape as he would not be allowed to try for the Navy SEALs again. Despite messing himself up and mangling his body so many times he always bounced back and improved, proving that anyone can recover from setbacks no matter now dilapidating. Goggins is living proof of what the human body is capable of when pushed to its limits. When we confront our inner fears and know how to answer the simple questions of why we’re putting ourselves through the pain on the road to improvement we can accomplish almost anything. It’s not always easy of course. Goggins believes that most of us cruise through life at 40%, barely
scraping at our potential and this belief forms the basis of his personal life philosophy. You might break yourself, injure yourself, mess up and deal with excruciating pain, but you’ll push yourself to things you never believed you or anyone else thought you were capable of. Goggins explores his life story and his beliefs further in his book ‘Can’t Hurt Me’ which was published in 2018, a book that should make its way onto all of our reading lists no matter our path in life. Goggins had to do three hell weeks before he could graduate from BUD’s, having been taken
down by double pneumonia on his first attempt and failing a water exercise after his second. It took him three attempts before he broke the pull up record he tried to smash. At every turn Goggins never accepted the idea that he had reached his limit, that it was not meant to be. He learned from his mistakes, unlocked his full potential and persevered. Following David’s example we could all push beyond our 40 percent limit, master our minds and reach our full potential. To Goggins I will say what he always says to his followers online, “Stay hard!”
