Student’s manual: Asking for help and helping others

Written by: Maria Carolina Lima

From: São Paulo, Brazil

Edited by: Anna Kissajikian

As we already know, the pandemic has affected everyone in multiple ways, even the ones who sometimes seem to be the reason for student’s suffering. Yes, our teachers have been going through it just like us, and understanding that we must help each other in this rough time is essential. 

Remember when you were having online classes and every single word the teacher said seemed like gibberish? Well, it wasn't great for them either. They were used to teach while looking at people, and answering doubts all the time, and then all of a sudden they were stuck with a computer and a bunch of initials. Teachers went from seeing faces all the time to seeing “ML” (initials) or just a little drawing of a human with no hair nor facial expressions whatsoever. 

Right now with vaccines and life starting to go back to normal (hopefully) little by little, studying has been harder than ever. People dealt with online classes differently, but no one did it perfectly, or almost no one. Going back all of the sudden scares all of us. But teachers are there to help, and you too can help them. Students and teachers are all adapting to this new, yet old way of living, so no one is alone. If you need it, ask for help. If everything looks like a huge mess, find a teacher you can trust and talk to them, sometimes they are going through something similar.

We developed this idea that our professors are our enemies, but they are actually not! They are just trying to do their jobs the best way possible. Of course, some teachers are not the best, but if you do some digging and actually show them that you are an interested person, it will 100% work out.