When asked how he is impacted by the recent surge in Shanghai COVID-19 cases, Hank Lake (alias), a junior in Shanghai High School International Division, responded:
“Food supplies are running low. We must resort to eating plants found in hedges and bushes next to our apartment. In a few days, my complex will be sealed off, and rivaling factions will start riots and conflicts, seizing control of key resource points and demanding toilet paper in exchange for protection. I must pick a side to survive.”

Plants near Hank’s apartment
Of course, Hank was joking. Nonetheless, although Shanghai’s high schoolers are not suffering as dramatically, they have still been greatly impacted by the renewed presence of the virus.
Not only are numerous students familiarizing themselves with quarantine and repetitive COVID testing as lockdowns occur city-wide, but since all schools in Shanghai switched to remote learning on March 12th, high schoolers have also been struggling to navigate new schedules and online platforms.
The situation appears to be similar to the one in 2020, when schools went online as the pandemic increasingly worsened. However, for Natasha, a junior in Shanghai SMIC Private School, this round of online learning could not be more different from the first.
Although she follows a rigorous, compact daily schedule of online meetings now, Natasha attended far fewer live classes per day two years ago. “Back in 2020, [some] teachers pre-recorded videos or left worded instructions, so you could schedule when to do each class,” she explained.
“I prefer the 2020 version for its freedom and its minimized exposure,” Natasha professed, as she is still having trouble accustoming to the new online school day consisting of seven 45-minute live classes interspersed with short breaks. “This time, there were already some expectations, so I reacted negatively when it turned out differently.”
“I don’t think I’ve mentally adjusted yet,” she disclosed. “It’s hard for me to focus— it is boring because at home I am in a very familiar environment.”

Natasha sits in front of this messy yet cherished desk while attending online classes.
In her school, Natasha is not the exception; others seem to have trouble adapting and participating as well. “We are pretty adjusted in terms of setup, [but] classroom engagement has decreased. Students are more passive and sometimes require teachers to prompt them to answer— speaking became a very conscious choice.”
While Natasha’s experiences in 2020 hamper her from smoothly transitioning in the second round, other students claim that their previous encounters with online classes prove beneficial.
Jack, a senior in Shanghai United International School, acknowledged how both faculty and students have better confronted the same technical issues. “In 2020, many technical difficulties occurred, and the school IT fixed them case by case, delaying some classes. Some students were unable to hand in assignments on time because they could not log into the submission site.
“[Now] I think students and teachers are more accustomed to online learning. The schedules are arranged more smoothly, and there is even an online platform to receive and submit homework for SUIS students specifically.”

Jack and his peers used the website Edmodo to submit schoolwork in 2020. Now, they are starting to use the new, school-developed platform depicted here instead.
In Hank’s school, bad experiences in 2020 not only improved the management of technical difficulties this year, but they facilitated communication in online classrooms as well.
“We’ve gotten better at making class fruitful and productive,” Hank revealed. In most of his current online classes, all students seem attentive and have cameras turned on. “We know what it was like last time. We hated it. The teachers hated it. Class was a chore, and practically no one was paying attention.
“Now, classes are more engaging than ever, and in some cases, they are almost on par with offline classes. That’s something I’d never thought I’d say.”

Hank giving a thumbs up to the Tencent Meeting displayed on his computer screen. He claims to be mostly enjoying online learning this year.
Ultimately, different high schools and their students are currently encountering various degrees of success transitioning to live classes. Some students, like Natasha, are finding the change more inconvenient than others. Yet, as Hank attested, as they have for him and his school, unpleasant online learning experiences faced by students now can pave the way for better ones ahead. “They [Natasha’s school] didn’t go through hours and hours of awkward silence [in 2020]. I imagine they will be more engaged because experience builds up knowledge; if that experience is undesirable, cringeworthy, or to be avoided, then people will avoid it next time. That’s what happened to us, so hopefully, it happens to them too.”