Discuss some of your opinions /challenges on the current state of CUNY’s response to your educational needs during the COVID 19 pandemic? Do you think that adequate resources were provided by BMCC / and or CUNY to enable you to continue your educational goals/pursuit? In other words, how has the current situation impacted your educational plans? (be prepared to share your responses to this question during our virtual classroom).
At the begging of the online transition semester, I struggled with a few of my classes. I have never taken online classes before because of my style of learning. I’m a visual and kinesthetic learner. Since we didn’t have any other choice I had to adapt to a new form of learning. The class that I had a lot of difficulties with was BIO 210 since my professor wasn’t used to teaching online; she had difficulties adjusting to online resources. The second part of this class is the laboratory class we had to take. Since we couldn’t be in a class setting with adequate materials my professor pre-filmed some experiments but not all of them. Most of the lab work was getting changed every week. We had virtual labs and other labs she wanted us to perform. I found this to be unorganized and confusing. Although we were able to turn in certain work late it wasn’t enough time. She was giving us a ton of work that I wasn’t able to keep up and this is not the only class I was taking. Both of my parents also got sick and since being the oldest, I had to take care of my parents which made it hard to balance school and helping my parents with their needs. I also had to become my baby sister teacher since she’s too young to monitor a computer to a certain extent. I had to find an equilibrium because I just want to give up and I couldn’t because this was also my last semester at BMCC, and I was this much closer to receiving my associates.
I believe BMCC was not prepared for the online transition although we do have the technology for it some professors at BMCC have never used blackboard or don’t believe in it, in result you had professors leaving their students and us as students had to adjust to the new professors that were put into place which I didn’t find fair since we are about to finish the semester. The grading policy that CUNY put into place, in my opinion, was favorable since they are allowing us to choose if we want the credit or no credit. It is our responsibility to turn in the work and work hard for the letter grade that we want. But also, they have to take into consideration that many students face many obstacles from not having internet at home or living in an environment where education can’t be learned. By letting us have the option to pick between credit or no credit is very reasonable of them and if students chose the no credit it won’t affect their GPA.
Has there ever been a time when your formal and informal educations in the same setting were at odds? How did you overcome that disconnect?
There was a time where my formal and informal education was at odds. I was raised in a household where my parents thought me that I should respect my elders and not comment when they are speaking. Since they are authority, they are always right. Since having an education and being more experienced in society my morals have somewhat changed throughout the years. Also, society is gradually accepting criticism well. People are being more outspoken than ever before in which we get to see and hear different points of view. Before I came to BMCC I attended a college called Mercy College I was there for 2 years and decided it was not the best fit for me. While I was attending college there, I had an advisor that was very authoritative with her students because “she wanted the best for them”. At the time I was doing pretty good I was even surprised myself of how well I was doing. She believed the major I chose was too challenging for me because I wasn’t following certain routes that another student in the program was doing. I couldn’t give her my opinion nor defend my case because she knew what was best for me. But after hearing her for a week I decided to tell her “you can’t compare me to that student I and that student are different from each other”. We both want to be doctors, but she had the privilege to just be a student and have the time to join extracurricular activities. On the other hand, I had to work to pay for school, but my grades were in good shape where they needed to be just like the other student. After speaking to my advisor and being verbally harassed by her I decided this university was not the best for me. I decided to change universities and came to BMCC for a year which was one of the best choices I ever made.
Thinking of your school, what are some ways that a conflict theorist would say that your school perpetuates class differences?
A conflict theorist would say students of low socioeconomic status are not afforded the same opportunities as students of higher statues and no matter how great their academic ability and desire to learn. For example, I come from a low-income household I must work to pay for my education although the government pays for the majority of my financial aid there are still other necessities that need to be paid for my education like textbooks, etc. I also have to help my parents pay bills. On the other hand, a student that is from higher statues has the opportunity to receive an education that is paid for and instead of working a minimum wage job they are networking with big companies and creating a connection with them can that lead then to land a job in the future with them.
