The Chaotic Mess of Back-to-School Season, According to High Schoolers

We were like cats in the air for a while’

Izzie Ramirez
GEN

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Photo illustration. Source: Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

School shouldn’t be a life-and-death situation, but it undeniably is right now. As the back-to-school season begins and with no consistent protocols laid out by state and federal governments, schools across the country are deciding whether to continue remote learning, pivot back to in-person classes, or feature some combination of the two.

GEN spoke with four high schoolers about going back to school in the middle of a practically unmitigated pandemic. Their anxieties were twofold: They’re worried about losing out on education opportunities and the typical high school experience.

Nikita, 16, a junior in Milton, Georgia

I go to public school and we were like cats in the air for a while; we were under the impression we would go back to school full-on. But then in July, they decided to switch to completely online. Since then, we’ve been using Microsoft Teams to connect with teachers. We still follow a semi-regular schedule. But I know that other Georgia schools and different counties are doing hybrid days; some are even completely open.

It is weird that the whole state isn’t uniform and there’s a whole problem with the mask…

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Izzie Ramirez
GEN
Writer for

Writing about climate, culture & comida wherever I go. Work in: GEN, Bitch Media, VICE, Jezebel, and then some. Medium’s resident Gen Z kid.