The way forward

WITH the dawn of a new era bursting with various innovations, simple day-to-day processes are evolving. The older generation, like my grandparents, would say they are indifferent towards technology. My grandparents just stick to their “old ways” and tend to stay away from modern advancements like food delivery services and social media.

To the slightly younger generation, like my parents who are in their early 40s, technology is great. Their lives, in a way, orbit around technology such as the Internet and the LRT.

For typical teenagers, who have been surrounded by technology from a young age, technology is more of a need than a want. If someone offered me RM100 to live a full day without technology, I would sashay away from this impossible challenge.

Another thing I can’t live without is education. As much as doing homework on a Friday night doesn’t sound pleasant, we truly wouldn’t have gone anywhere without education.

I love sitting in class with my friends, listening to hour after hour of beautifully presented lessons. I love absorbing information, asking my teachers questions and chatting with my classmates.

But something had to snatch the delight of schooling away from us – Coronavirus. So here we are now. At home.

At the beginning of the MCO, I was euphoric as I could take a break from studying. I didn’t touch my schoolbooks for the first few days of the lockdown.

Then, reality sank in – I realised I had to use the MCO to catch up on my studies.

So, I formulated my own study schedule and dedicated a few hours every day to poring over textbooks and making rough notes.

A few weeks later, my teachers sent us an online lesson schedule. Here’s where the two things I can’t live without, combine. The synergy of technology and education: e-learning.

Our classes went smoothly. My teachers were teaching the same way they always had; I could see all the slides, hear all the lessons and play all the Kahoot games.

But there was one big problem. My brain just couldn’t absorb anything the way it used to in school! I couldn’t really grasp any of the lessons although my teachers did send us slides and videos. Technically, I was learning everything I was supposed to. But I was incapable of learning effectively through online lessons. So would I just fail my exams and blame it on the fact that I can’t learn properly online?

Because I realised that the absence of school during the MCO and my inability to learn online would affect my studies, I decided to revise on my own, using reference books and the resources provided. Without these, I would have been clueless.

We truly only need one skill to overcome life’s hurdles: adaptation. It didn’t just prevent my studies from suffering; it helped me to understand the new norm.

Life, I realised, is about adapting. We wouldn’t get anywhere if we didn’t adapt to new situations.