Never Again

A freshman would usually be stumbled upon a surprising concept which many would call
a “Campus Culture” upon entering the college life. Some may thrive and others would be
overwhelmed by what college life may pose to them, especially in adapting to a new setup in
higher level of academics and some ways of life in the college way. However, the COVID-19
pandemic has brought all college students a new system that effectively made everyone adapt –
the redefining of every “Campus Culture” and the reformation of college education.
The in-person setup of learning sums up the biggest difference in pre-pandemic college
education compared to the current system. The changing of the said setup to distance learning
has worked as that of a domino effect, which broadly affected all the branching aspects to
consider in the life of a college student. College education during the pre-pandemic times was
more of an experience-based learning where instructors and students get to engage in interactive
instruction methods where lessons are better demonstrated. It featured activities that involves
students together, which makes it collaborative and taking people to places where they can better
learn, which makes learning exploratory. This could be a great advantage, especially for students
in courses that require field work or actual operations relevant to their courses – which is also a
bare minimum in the line of necessity. The downside of it, unfortunately, is the cost of learning
in both financial and time expenses. Surely, attending in-person classes especially for people
living away from the school would add extra cost to their expenses and will consume more of
their time as they would have no choice but to devote large portion of their time to full-time
study. Nevertheless, the pre-pandemic setup enables students to experience learning real-time for
their chosen fields which are certainly expected to be practiced in real-time.
On the pandemic period college education, the most plausible description for it would be
its flexibility in many different facets. It is flexible in a way that initially, it was established to
adapt to the pandemic situation where quarantine restrictions are imposed so as not to put health
and safety in jeopardy. In the long run, it can be observed that the pandemic period college
education is also indeed flexible in both time, cost, and other variables in the situation. The setup
enabled college students to do multi-tasking and re-integrate college education as a part-time
commitment while attending to all other pursuits they can venture to. It opened more
opportunities for students as it provided greater access to learning, mostly to those who are
initially unable to sustain college education due to financial and time constraints. What is only
bothersome is that the efficacy of learning could possibly be reduced, especially for courses
requiring activities done through actual demonstrations and practices. College education became
more theoretical rather than practical in nature, focusing more on the improvement of cognitive
ability but leaving behind some necessary skills training. It also became more individualistic as
online or modular learning restricts the ability of students to freely engage with their fellows or
instructors. It is also not exploratory, given that most of their study time are spent at home being
effectively isolated.
 Notably, the pandemic has disrupted the long-thriving traditional learning method that
have spanned for centuries and forced the academe to create a new order compelled by both
adversity and necessity. Presently, no students are exempt from the changes and college
education is being redefined as if all are restarting. It is then certain to profess that college
education will never be the same again in the context of a changing world where new concepts
are introduced.