Blog Archives
A Test On Self-reliance
There’s no better time to discuss this subject – self-reliance – than now that a health crisis is fiercely challenging the indomitability of the human spirit. As I emphasized in a previous essay, humans have always been the apex predator. Then came COVID-19. These microbes predate on us and suddenly we are made to play an unfamiliar role – that of the prey. Much to our chagrin, we have become the game of these microscopic parasites.
The coronavirus has put us to a battery of tests. We miserably flunked the first one – the test of preparedness. We were not ready when this deadly pestilence came. The statistics on infections and deaths clearly show that. Not that nobody saw this current pandemic happening. Many did but the alarms they sounded were either not loud enough or fell on deaf ears. We are now paying the price of our unpreparedness. We now have to bear the consequences of our complacency.
The next test is adaptation. COVID-19 is also testing our ability to adapt. This we cannot afford to fail. To adapt is the only option we have now, at least until we have both cure and vaccine against the deadly pathogen. If we won’t, we perish.
Surviving the pandemic is the goal of adaptation. It is a personal responsibility. Each individual has to make a choice – take all the necessary precautions or naively say “come what may.” There are people who chose not to follow science-based protocols set by the authorities to prevent possible infection. Should they get infected, they only have themselves to blame. God forbid that in their stubbornness and ignorance, other people, particularly their loved ones, would also suffer.
Surviving means not only avoiding getting infected but staying afloat in the dire conditions created by the onslaught of the deadly virus. It is not only a matter of steering away from the deadly path of this infectious disease but also coping to the situations that emerged from its trail of destruction.
Overcoming the difficulties and challenges we are now facing because of the pandemic require all forms of toughness – physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual (for those who, like me, believe in God). We may also need all the help we could get during these times.
But what if nobody would help? What if we only have ourselves to rely upon in order to survive? Can we shift our gear to self-reliance if we need to?
That’s the next test and perhaps the most crucial – the test on self-reliance.
When governments of affected countries had to implement extreme measures including declaring lockdowns, all socio-political and economic activities grinded to a halt. People were forced to stay at home and couldn’t go to work to earn a living. Many got worried, particularly the breadwinners, because they had mouths to feed and bills to pay. Lucky were the citizens of some countries who were given economic assistance by their governments. Some governments don’t have the capability to do the same. Luckier were those who live in very rich countries whose pockets are very deep. But were the dole outs provided by those holding the reins of government sufficient? Are the financial resources of even the wealthiest among nations unlimited that no matter how long it will take for the COVID-19 threats to dissipate they would be able to provide the needs of their people?
The next question we have to answer is – “Are we supposed to just rely on the relief package that our respective governments would provide?” Here’s another – “Are we going to put our fate and that of our families in the hands of other people when situations like the current health crisis occurs?”
What if the coffers of our governments run dry? What if the usually generous countries would decide not to send aids to other countries because they would want to prioritize the needs of their own citizens? What if the philanthropists and their charitable organizations have nothing more to give? What if we have no friends, relatives, and loved ones who would (and could) give us the assistance we need? What if we only have ourselves to rely upon because everyone else have their own problems and concerns?
Yes, when COVID-19 cases started to go down some countries lifted (or eased down) their quarantine measures, economic activities resumed, although in a limited scale only. But as soon as that happened, as soon as more people and more people ventured out of their houses and started moving to and fro for whatever reasons, statistics on infections and deaths started to surge again.
So, in light of the aforementioned, what should the governments of concerned countries be doing? Would they choose to preserve the lives of their citizens or resuscitate their dying economies? Should our leaders choose the former, we go back to square one. We go back to being confined in our homes and not capable of earning a living. We go back to relying solely on the support from our governments. That is, if they still have the resources to distribute to us. But what if they have nothing more to give?
It is our moral obligation to put ourselves in a position that when everything else fail, we can at least have ourselves to rely upon and that we have sufficient resources to draw from come rain or shine. We should be thankful if our government, our neighbors, our friends, or our relatives would offer help during difficult times but it is our duty as a person with dignity to work smart and hard enough to ensure that even without the help from anybody we (and those who rely on us) will survive.
We have all spring, summer, and fall to prepare for the winter. We should not spend the first three seasons just watching the buds in branches of trees become leaves until they become dry and shriveled then fall to the ground. Till the land. Sow the seeds of the kind of crop you want to reap. After the harvest, don’t eat everything. Save some for the winter. Make sure that you saved enough in your barn in case the winter gets longer than usual.
The Price of Unpreparedness
The coronavirus is still wreaking havoc and there are no signs it’s stopping soon. Humanity’s resilience is being tested to the hilt.
The deadly pathogen arrived swiftly and stealthily like the proverbial thief in the night stealing lives and ruining dreams. Like a powerful earthquake, the COVID-19 crisis struck violently and shook the foundations of our socio-political and economic institutions. If the shaking does not stop soon, the said institutions might collapse with us trapped under the rubbles.
The COVID-19 pandemic is an unfolding tragedy affecting the whole world. Pandemics, like other disasters and tragedies, natural or man-made, are inevitable. They happen when they happen. Some of them can be predicted by science, but some are hard (if not impossible) to predict.
Like an earthquake, a pandemic cannot be predicted. We know that both may occur but it is difficult (if not impossible) to predict when or where. All that humanity can do is to prepare in case they do happen. The question we should ask now is – Were we ready when the current health crisis broke out? Unfortunately we were not! The coronavirus caught the world with its pants down.
We were sufficiently warned by scientists and epidemiologists. Papers were published and books were written about the possibility of a pandemic as deadly as the coronavirus occurring. The Swine Flu, Ebola, MERS, and SARS, all happening during the first 20 years of the 21st century were telltale signs that outbreaks of infectious and deadly diseases are happening more frequently. They were all ignored and humanity is now paying the price for not heeding the warnings.
It wasn’t information we lacked but something very basic for surviving calamities (or at least lessen their damage) – preparation.
For earthquakes, we usually conduct earthquake drills to at least learn what we should do should an unpredictable earthquake occurs. What about with pandemics? What preparations did countries put in place for infectious and deadly diseases? With the way the coronavirus events unfolded in different parts of the world, it is accurate to say that not a semblance of preparation was made… except probably in South Korea.
Experts explained that South Korea’s efficient response to the coronavirus crisis was informed by their experiences and the data they gathered from the country’s MERS outbreak in 2015. The National Geographic reported that in the immediate aftermath of the outbreak aforementioned, the country’s lawmakers laid out the legal foundation for a comprehensive strategy for contact tracing. This is crucial in containing the virus and in preventing further spread. They amended an existing law that gave their health authorities the power to collect private data from both confirmed and suspected patients even without warrant. They also built up their diagnostic testing capabilities.
The South Koreans were, somehow, prepared. They had a plan should another MERS occur. Probably, the rest of the world had none. The South Koreans and their leaders knew what to do while the rest of the world was clueless as to how to deal effectively with the pestilence.
The South Koreans learned their lessons from a previous disease outbreak (MERS). This time they were prepared. Conversely, the US and most European countries have seemingly forgotten about the 1918 Spanish flu. Perhaps because that was a century ago. They (and other countries) assumed that just like the Swine Flu, Ebola, MERS, and SARS, any other outbreaks could easily be put under control. They were all wrong. The coronavirus is a testament that “assumption is the mother of all f*** ups.”
Benjamin Franklin once said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” The citizens and leaders of his country learned this the hard way. The US owns the dubious distinction of the country with the most COVID-19 cases and deaths.
The US and other wealthy European nations being rendered seemingly helpless by this deadly pestilence is an irony. The said countries are among the wealthiest in the world (with the US on top). They also have the most advance science and technology and the most number of Nobel Prize winners in Medicine and Chemistry. So, what happened?
The answer is simple – they were not ready for the onslaught of the coronavirus.
The deaths and sufferings we are witnessing in different parts of the world are the price we pay for our unpreparedness.
TEACHING DURING THE PANDEMIC: A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
(A Personal Essay)
The COVID-19 pandemic is continuously rearranging socio-political and economic structures forcing us to tinker with our existing programs and practices. In order to adapt to the present realities which the virus forced down upon our throats, we are left with no choice but to either modify or completely reconfigure time-tested paradigms that have guided human affairs and activities in the past. Consequently, we are now witnessing a lot of changes in the different spheres of human life – social, political, economic, and what have you. More changes are forthcoming. These changes are inevitable and they are happening rapidly in the national, institutional, and personal levels.
Governments are restructuring in a hurry making all the necessary legislations in response to the ongoing pandemic. Both public and private organizations, from the biggest ones to the smallest, are rewriting their policies and guidelines. They are either amending existing protocols or creating new ones.
All of these changes have to be done because the socio-political and economic wheels have to continue turning. There are basic services and needs that ought to be delivered notwithstanding the COVID-19 situation. Education is among them.
Schools need to find a way to carry out their sacred oath – educate people, particularly the youth.
But we understand that students, academic and non-academic personnel, and school officials should not be rushed back to the campuses and unnecessarily expose them to possible infections. It is almost impossible to implement “social distancing” protocols in campuses where there are hundreds to thousands of students.
Schools in some countries (like South Korea) who are succeeding in flattening their COVID-19 curves have decided to resume academic operations. How are they doing it?
They are doing it online. There’s no other way.
The only platform which schools could use to deliver education to their studentry without putting them unnecessarily at risk is online. Online education is not a new platform. It has been existing for years now. The difference is that it used to be just an alternative done mostly on “one teacher-one student basis.” Now, it’s whole classes, with varying sizes, whose members one teacher should be teaching online all at the same time. It’s a mass online education.
This is the way that the university where I am currently teaching here in South Korea is doing it. The spring semester started on the 3rd week of March (online) and we were supposed to meet our students face-to-face starting the 1st week of April. But that was postponed to after two more weeks after the South Korean government pleaded to extend further the “social distancing” period. Eventually, our university officials deemed it necessary to postpone indefinitely the return of the students to the campus.
When I heard that we’ll be teaching online, I thought immediately that I will be playing a different ballgame the rules of which I am not quite familiar with. I am entering unchartered territory. I have never done a single minute of online teaching in the past. Of course I am using technology in the classroom and I am fond of trying whatever application is available to make my teaching better and appealing to my students who are all digital natives. I also use applications that make my work as a teacher easier. But I never had the opportunity to teach online in the past. Finally, the time has come for me to experience it.
Then came the training day organized to prepare us to play what I called a new ballgame – “online teaching.”
For the first two weeks of the spring semester, we were instructed to prepare videos of our lectures and give our students assignments. We were told to upload the videos and assign the homework using the E-Class provisions of the university’s portal. I asked myself, “Is that it?” That’s how we would be engaging with our students and guide them in the process of learning? Create (and upload) the videos then mark/check assignments. Is that online teaching?
That sounded easy – just create a weekly learning video and give one homework and your work is done. Then you can laugh your way to the ATM during payday, to collect your HARD EARNED dough.
I am not saying that it’s easy to create video presentations. It entails hard work, specially to people like me who had no training in creating videos. But to think that the video we will be uploading to E-Class will replace all the functions we as teachers need to perform in the class is quite disconcerting. I am not saying too that marking/checking the assignments of the students would be easy. It’s just that I am not comfortable giving an assignment based on a particular topic that I did not actually discuss. It’s like evaluating without teaching. As far as I know. That’s not how education works.
At that time, I consoled myself with the thought that that arrangement would only be for two weeks. So, I thought of just exerting extra effort to make up for what I may not be able to discuss to them during the first two weeks.
Until I saw very clear writings on the wall that it may take more than two more weeks before the university would allow classes to be held in the classrooms. True enough, (as I previously mentioned) we were told that we have to carry out online teaching to at least two more weeks until eventually, the university advised us that on-campus classes are postponed indefinitely.
The very first day of (online) classes, I received a call from one of my students. The student asked – “Are we not going to have an online class through Cisco Webex?” It appeared to me that their Korean professors are meeting them online. Otherwise, that student wouldn’t be asking that question.
Aside from the E-Class, the university provides us with another platform to perform our duties as teachers and deliver learning to our students online. That is Cisco Webex, a platform for video conferencing and online meetings. The E-Class have been there long before the COVID-19 crisis happened although it was optional on our (the teachers) part to use it. In the past, I used it rarely to upload course materials and give my students reminders related to our course. Yes, rarely did I use it. The reason being – students check on the E-Class less than rarely. Now, the current situation will force them to do it regularly.
To ensure that my students get the necessary course materials and information, I had an alternative. I created a Kakao chatroom for each of my classes to serve as a conduit between me and them. They would less likely miss anything passed to them through Kakao. The Kakao chatroom for each of my classes is exclusively for members of the class and strictly for the course materials and information I need to pass to them. They could message me in the chatroom only for questions related to our course. I don’t allow them to use it for online socialization.
Now, let me go back to the present concern. As I already explained, the minimum requirement for us is to create weekly learning videos (and the corresponding assignments) based on the contents of the prescribed textbook. We need to cover the contents of a whole unit for the weekly videos we’re creating. Teachers are required to have these videos and assignments uploaded to the E-Class. Meeting our students through Cisco Webex is not mandatory. The university left it to the discretion of expat teachers, like me, whether or not to use it.
Let me go back to that call from my student. Before our conversation ended, I made up my mind. I told the student that starting the 2nd week (and if ever we won’t be allowed to meet in the classroom for a long time), we will regularly meet online.
I figured posting weekly videos and giving them assignments through E-Class is insufficient. I wasn’t comfortable with that arrangement. Thus, even if it is not mandatory, I felt obligated to meet my students online through Cisco Webex.
That night I started watching YouTube videos on how to conduct online classes/meetings using Cisco Webex. I was lucky too to have a friend and colleague who was more than willing to teach me everything he knows about the platform. Like me, he considered just posting videos and giving meaningless assignments a disservice to our students (and I think other expat teachers have realized this also and may have been using the Cisco Webex too). So, he taught me how to use it that night. A couple of hours with him was all I needed.
With the help of my friend-colleague, I invited my students to the Cisco Webex meetings I set. I didn’t wait for the 2nd week of the semester. The day after I made the promise, I started holding classes online.
I did not hide from my students the fact that that was my first time, not only to use the Cisco Webex platform, but to teach online as well. It was exciting but challenging. What carried me through the difficulties and jitters of doing an online class for the first time were my being a natural speaker and the fact that I presented the same things I have been discussing during first days of classes for many years now. So, notwithstanding the minor technical glitches, which I found ways of resolving, my very first online class was fun. There was an element of excitement because I was experiencing something new. Somehow, the monotony of doing the same things in the classroom during regular classes on campus for so many years was suddenly broken.
I requested another session with that same friend and colleague who helped me the previous night and described to him the problems I encountered in my first two online classes. He explained to me what I needed to know and gave me some more tips about using Cisco Webex making me more confident and better-equipped in the next online classes I held.
That brought me back on track. The decision to conduct online classes through Cisco Webex erased the worry that I would be shortchanging my students had I chosen to just create videos of my lectures and upload them to E-Class and do nothing else.
Most of our credit courses are conversational English classes whose primary objective is to develop the speaking skills of our students. Yes, of the four macro language skills, the focal point is speaking. How do we hope to achieve that objective if we would only be providing the students with weekly videos that we assume (with our fingers crossed) that they would watch from beginning to end and try to learn from them? How would the teachers help the students develop that confidence to speak when there’s nobody with them when watching those videos? There would be no interaction at all between students and teachers and between students themselves. With online classes, minimal it may be, there is interaction. I discovered that. I could ask questions and call on specific students to answer. I could make them talk. The speaking activities provided in the book could be carried out. Students who want to earn participation points could actively participate. And with me explaining to them how important is their participation in getting the highest grade they want, I was able to make my online classes a two-way communication channel, and not me delivering a monologue just parroting the contents of the textbook from beginning up to the end of the online class.
Yes, teachers could create the best video presentations but what’s the guarantee that the students would intently watch them from beginning to end and perform the corresponding activities they are being directed to perform. They could play the video in the confines of their bedrooms, leave that room after starting the video to do something else somewhere, then comeback when time expires so the E-Class would give them credit for attendance for watching the video. They could also opt to sleep or watch TV while waiting for the video to finish. The E-Class system is not programmed to detect whether or not the students are in front of the laptop (or any other devices) they are using in the entire duration that the video is being played.
There’s one big challenge teachers face with online teaching – the marking/grading of assignments, quizzes, and tests. How could it be done in a timely and efficient manner?
Actually, the E-Class has functions to cater to the submission of assignments and other graded course requirements and the corresponding marking/grading of the same. I tried to check one of the assignments of my students during the first week of (online) classes. Going through the many steps to open, mark/check, and grade each assignment took very long. With me handling more than 140 students and if each of them, in a particular week, will have an assignment or two, checking them would be time-consuming. It would be better and easier if the students write their assignments using MS Word. The MA Word has the “Insert-Comment” function which can be used conveniently for marking/checking the assignments and other requirements.
So, I asked my students to use MS WORD only when answering their assignments – no HWP, no PDF.
After that, I asked the students to send their assignments to me through email instead of directly answering them in the assignment section of the E-Class. That proved to be a nightmare too. During the first week, my G-mail account was flooded with emails from students and I found it very difficult to organize the assignments of my students and sort them per class.
Then I recalled that my friend-colleague (yes, the same one who helped me learn to use Cisco Webex) sent to me some documents before through Google Drive. I called him and asked if it is possible to share with a person a Google Drive folder/subfolder and both of us (only) could access that folder/subfolder. The answer was yes… and my problem was solved.
I created a Google Drive folder for each of the classes assigned to me this (spring) semester then created individual subfolders for each member of the class. It was tedious but it is the best way I could organize the assignments (and other requirements) of my students. I had to require them to create Gmail accounts so creating (and accessing) the Google Drive folder would be easier. As a result, starting the second week of the semester, they were not sending their assignments to my email anymore. The flood of e-mails in my G-mail account subsided. All they need to do is to open their Google Drive folder and drag and drop to the subfolder we are sharing whatever I require them to submit.
If they want to know their scores and whatever feedback I had for them regarding their assignments, all they need to do is to open the subfolder (we are sharing) in their Google Drive folder. I realized then that I just created an electronic student portfolio.
In my (face-to-face) classes, I require students to maintain a portfolio. I asked them to submit to me a folder (South Korean students call it “file”), with their name, student number, and class code. In those folders, they keep the results of their quizzes, exercises, tests, and other graded activities. I keep in my office those folders and bring them to class when we meet so they could monitor their own performance. It enables them to track their own progress in the course. They can literally determine weekly how many of the 100 grade points they need for the course they already have because at the beginning of each semester I would give my students a grade checklist/guide and transmutation tables and teach them how to compute their own grades. So, I make sure that I mark/check whatever I require them to submit before our next meeting. If I also need to communicate something (related to our course) to specific students, I would insert notes in their individual folders.
With the Google Drive folder/subfolder, my portfolio system just turned digital.
Another reason I consider just posting videos of weekly lecture materials insufficient is this – the way our grading system is designed would require much more than just posting learning videos and giving assignments. Assessment is an integral part of the teaching-learning process. Aside from assignments, which is actually only one of the graded activities that teachers could give for the students to generate their participation points (which is 20% of their final score), there are other forms of assessment that must be done – quizzes (10% of their final score), midterm and final written tests (10%), midterm and final listening tests (10%), and midterm and final speaking tests (20%). That’s a total of 70% of the students’ final score. How would teachers who just uploaded videos of their lectures, and did not teach them, evaluate whether or not course objectives are met and then assess learning through those aforementioned quizzes and the long tests? Will they try to measure the effectiveness of their teaching by creating test items based on the assumption that their students watched their lecture and were responsible enough to understand? Would the results of the quizzes and tests be valid and reliable?
I, and those who have training in pedagogy, those who were really trained and groomed to become teachers and was not just plucked from certain geographical locations in the world to pose as teachers, know the answer to the questions raised in the two preceding paragraphs.
So, after hurdling the first two major obstacles – learning to hold online classes through Cisco Webex platform and marking/grading assignments and other requirements properly – I next tried to figure out how to give those quizzes and tests. Of course, online also. But the challenge is how to make the results of such quizzes and tests valid and reliable given the fact that it would be very easy for the students to open their notes while taking quizzes and tests because I am not there beside them to watch what they are doing.
Easy (but hard) – create test items that require comprehension and analysis. Avoid creating questions or test items whose answers they could easily give by simply glancing at their review guides. The quizzes and tests should prompt the students to apply what they learned and not simply write down in their answer sheets things they have memorized.
I initially thought of giving the quizzes and tests through the Survey Monkey, the online survey tool that I am using whenever I conduct online surveys for my research works. The tool (Survey Monkey) would do the checking and all I need to do is generate a summary report for the scores – the same things I did when I want to get the summary results of the surveys I conducted in the past. But during the 2nd week of classes I had an epiphany that I could actually give quizzes and tests through Cisco Webex but had to require them to immediately drag and drop their answer sheets to their Google Drive folder/subfolder to maintain the integrity of the testing. It’s a process simpler and more practical than what I thought doing through Survey Monkey.
I tried it. I gave my first quiz through Cisco Webex. Through the “shared screen” of the application’s environment, I opened the PowerPoint file that contains the items for my first quiz. I jokingly told myself then that it was something historical – it was my first quiz in the COVID-19 era. I gave them 10 minutes to finish the 10-item vocabulary quiz. That’s the same amount of time we give our students for their quizzes during regular classes. That’s a very long time for my “advance” students but just enough for the “not-so-advance” among them. For the dragging and dropping of the answer sheet to their Google Drive folder, I gave them an additional 3 minutes, although I know that the process of dragging and dropping files to a Google Drive folder could be done in a minute or less. It was a trial of sort, so I was a little bit generous with the time allotment. And yes… it was a success.
Then later on I discovered that things will be easier for me and lesser would be the possibility of cheating on the part of the students if I create my quizzes, tests and exercises using the Google Forms and the add on formLimiter. It saved me a lot of time in the checking/marking. What I consider as the drawback of using the Google Forms is that the students wouldn’t be able to see an actual test (quiz or exercise) paper. They wouldn’t be able to see again the actual questions/items together with their answers (and the corrections to the wrong answers they gave) the way they would be able to should I use the method I previously explained.
With all these experiences, I came to realize that online teaching is still teaching. It’s not some kind of a play that we are using to keep the students entertained while we are waiting for the COVID-19 crisis to dissipate. It should not be treated as a band-aid solution to the problem of not being able to meet the students face-to-face in the campus. We have no way of knowing how soon the pandemic would end. What if the current situation drags on not only for months but years?
It’s obvious that schools will now rely heavily on technology to carry out their sacred oath to educate. Schools need to adapt. They have no choice.
Governments who, in the past, were wise to have invested in improving the information technology capability, including Internet connectivity, of their country’s educational system, will have no problem meeting the demands of “mass online education.” Private schools owners who slowly built up the information technology infrastructure of their schools have just realized how wise was that decision.
If the schools need to adapt, the teachers could do no less. They have to learn to play the new ballgame called “online teaching.” The question is this: “How prepared are teachers to this sudden transition to online learning?”
The truth is, with or without COVID-19, the ability to use technology in the classroom – to apply all available technology resources to education – is something that teachers should have trained themselves to do long time ago. The use of technology has become an integral part of being a 21st century teacher. There’s no way out of it. Schools should have made it a basic requirement for teachers they hire. The ability to create, evaluate, and effectively utilize information, media, and technology are required 21st century skills. Teacher are expected to possess it.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced educational institutions to teach online – to rely heavily on information, media, and technology. What will now happen to teachers who are not adequately equipped for online teaching – who did not bother to acquire the necessary skills and know-how related to it when they had the chance?
We Should Adapt… Or Perish
The COVID-19 crisis is here. It’s evolving. There’s no escaping it. All we could do is to hope and pray (of course if you, like I do, believe in God) that this pandemic ends in the soonest possible time.
The world is being held hostage by the COVID-19. This deadly pathogen spares no one. Everybody in the world is affected, either directly or indirectly. Anybody could get infected – rich or poor, famous or unknown, young or old – at any given time.
Almost all social and economic activities are also paralyzed. Many countries in the world are in a lockdown. People are being asked (or are forced) to stay at home. Most of them could not go to work and socialize with friends.
Were we ready when this happened? The answer is obvious – NO. We have to admit that we were caught with our pants down. Governments are clueless as to how effectively they could deal with the pestilence. Even the progressive and powerful countries with the most advance technologies are seemingly helpless. Nobody has a plan in place to respond to this crisis. Not that nobody saw it coming. Bill Gates did. In a Ted talk in 2015 he warned that “the greatest risk of global catastrophe is not a nuclear war but an influenza epidemic.” Did the world leaders listen? You know the answer.
There were other warnings that were given about the possibility of another pandemic occurring. Vaclav Smil, a Canadian scientis, published in 2008 a book (“Global Catastrophes and Trends) to warn us about the likelikhood of another influenza pandemic in the next 50 years. about it.
There were other books written warning about flu pandemics – “Flu Hunter: Unlocking the Secrets of a Virus” (Robert G. Webster) and “Deadliest Enemy” Our War Against Killer Germs” (Michael Osterholm). Apparently, nobody paid attention.
But we should no longer be playing the “blame game.” Set aside also for the meantime those conspiracy theories as to where the virus really originated, whether it is manufactured in the lab or is it natural, and what have you. What we need are solutions to the many problems we are facing as a result of the pandemic. As we wait for our scientists and medical experts who are racing against time to find a cure and to develop a vaccine, we have to move on. The last time I checked, the world has not stop spinning. It’s now springtime (here in South Korea as I write this). Summer will follow, then fall, and I am sure winter comes next. We have to continue living.
Notwithstanding COVID-19, life goes on. And as Robert Frost said, “the way out is always through.” We have to embrace the new reality painted by the deadly virus. We need to contend with all the changes that emerged because of the pandemic. We have no choice but to ADAPT. If we won’t, we perish.
Yes, adaption is the name of the game. This brings us back to what Charles Darwin once said, “Species with useful adaptations to the environment are more likely to survive.”
Humans have always been the apex predator. Then came COVID-19. These microbes predate on us and suddenly we are made to play an unfamiliar role – that of the prey. Much to our chagrin – we have become the game of these microscopic parasites. We are being hunted. These little monsters are targeting our lungs. And it’s not like a lion coming out of the bush that at least we have a window of opportunity to either stand our ground and fight or run for our safety. It’s like a traitorous bullet from a sniper hidden somewhere and you’ll just know you got hit when you start bleeding and could be seconds away from death.
But our scientists and medical experts have been learning a lot about the novel coronavirus. Humans are making a stand. We ought to fight and not just fall one after the other like helpless dominoes. The tables will certainly be turned, we just don’t know when and how soon. For the meantime, we are given a very important tool that would enable us, not to fight, not just yet anyway, but to avoid or move around our invisible predators – information. It’s all we have at this point. As of yet, there is no cure, there is no vaccine. Information – knowledge about these deadly microscopic parasites – is all we’ve got
The information gathered so far about the COVID-19, are key in the battle against the virus. All the data gathered are currently being synthesized by experts to come out with a treatment and to develop the vaccine. Leaders of different countries responded to these accumulated knowledge by formulating and implementing guidelines and policies. These guidelines and policies, in turn, resulted to the necessary changes in the way we now conduct our social and economic activities. All we need to do, for our own sake, is to adapt to all these changes.
This is the writing on the wall that everybody ought to have paid attention to – “Adapt… or perish.”
There are three cardinal rules that we ought to be following as religiously as we could – wash your hands frequently, wear mask when venturing out of our homes, and strictly observe social distancing. These guidelines were created by authorities in the field of epidemiology – people who know what they are saying. These very basic rules are not just opinions, they are assertions backed by research and science.
Are these rules difficult to follow? Most of us would probably say no. But there are some people who value so much their freedom to do as they please. There are some countries whose COVID-19 problems have gone awry where the citizens, and to some degree their governments as well, have initially considered following these basic rules as useless. The question they need to grapple with now and in the future is how have their refusal to wear mask and observe social distancing in the early stages of the spread of the virus in their respective countries/places contributed to the spike of COVID-19 infections and deaths a week or so later? Is it a case of people not adapting and therefore they perished? Is it a case of the government failing to adapt and therefore their citizens perished?
We know that countries need to resume with their economic activities or risk recession. But it is not a choice between asking people to stay home and wreck the economy or allowing them to go out to save the economy but giving the virus an opportunity to kill more people. It is a matter of learning to adapt to a social and economic environment where the threat of COVID-19 is present.
This is where the intelligence and creativity of human beings could come to the fore. How can we continue doing what we are supposed to be doing on a daily basis despite COVID-19 hanging like Damocles sword over our heads.
There are ways to do it. Some companies, for example, are already implementing “work-at home” schemes. There are schools in some parts of the world that have reopened opting to teach their students online. Leaders of different religions carry out their worship services online also. Nowadays, people order their foods and basic necessities online too. These are all in keeping with the policy of “social distancing” for indeed, it is so risky to gather people together.
There are times when the pursuit of our liberties bring us to perdition. Sometimes people are just too proud to surrender their basic freedom even if doing so means preserving the most significant of all human rights – the right to live.
We have to learn to adapt to the way the COVID-19 reconfigured the established systems we got accustomed to. We need to embrace all the changes resulting from the onslaught of the pandemic. Both individuals and organizations need to find innovative ways to deal with transformations created by the virus.
When the COVID-19 smoke dissipates, the men and women who would remain standing are the fittest and those who learned to adapt.
On COVID-19 and What Is It Teaching Us
I don’t find it necessary anymore to describe how devastating and horrifying the COVID-19 is. All known media platforms broadcast almost every minute nothing but the horrors the Corona virus has brought upon humanity in every corner of the world. Almost everybody knows almost everything about this deadly pestilence. Ask anybody any question about it and very likely that you’ll get a satisfactory response. But there is one question, the one that matters most, that nobody could answer – When will this pandemic end?
Nobody knows when will the contagion stop. Only God knows (that is if, like me, you believe in His existence). Scientists are racing against time the to find a definitive cure. Reportedly, there exists old drugs intended to cure other diseases that could help those infected. There were even some unconfirmed reports that actually, China has already found the cure but they are keeping it from the world. People are desperate in their search for protection against the virus.
Home remedies and false cures circulated in different countries – inhaling the steam of sea salt and orange peelings, lemon in hot water, cocaine and bleach-like solution, colloidal silver, chlorine disinfectant, etc. Some attempts to try all these unproven methods to fight the virus resulted to both injuries and deaths. The Iranian media reported that nearly 300 people have been killed and more than a thousand got sick because of methanol which they wrongly believed could cure the disease.
For those who managed to steer clear from the destructive and murderous path of COVID-19, they had better keep that distance or walk further away. Stay away from that path as far as possible. We ought to take all the necessary precautions because the vaccine will take long to develop – 12 to 18 months. That’s according to credible and reliable sources. Don’t pin your hopes on the claims of armchair experts (quoted by undiscerning social media users who excitedly post just about anything on their social media accounts without cross-checking and verifying) that a vaccine is coming out very soon or has already been developed.
Taking all the necessary precautions is different from becoming paranoid. We cannot afford to be too anxious and worried. We may be saving ourselves from the contagion but we might die of other illnesses resulting from emotional and mental distress. We can still live a normal life while observing the established protocols set to prevent the spread of the virus.
We really have reasons to be alarmed, but we ought to be rational.
And this is really a cause for alarm – only 20 years into the 21st century and we have already been stricken by 5 severely infectious and deadly diseases – Swine Flu, Ebola, MERS, SARS, and COVID-19. When I googled it (and hopefully all the information I got are accurate), I found out that that’s already the total number (5) of epidemics/pandemics for the entire 20th century. Google also told me that should you combine all these pestilences during the first two decades of the current century and the whole of the preceding century – and they are 10 all in all – that would already equal all of the fatal contagions that plagued the human species from 1800s down to time immemorial.
We can be consoled somehow by the fact that all known pandemics – from the distant past to the modern times – had their reign of terror ending at a certain juncture in history. Although a few, like the Bubonic plague (the deadliest in terms of number of fatalities), did comeback and continued its murderous rampage. Some of those pestilences would still afflict some people sporadically at certain periods in history, including the modern times. BBC reported in 2013 that a boy died of the Bubonic plague in Kyrgyzstan. But lest we forget that one of these viruses is still silently (and effectively) afflicting millions of people around the world – HIV. As reported by WHO in 2018, there are 37.9 million people around the world suffering from AIDS.
We are all hoping (and praying) that the COVID-19 crisis would end very soon. A few epidemiologists expressed fears though that even when the new corona virus contagion gets contained, it may, God forbid, come back to haunt us during the annual flu season. Thus, getting inoculated against the virus is a must. But, the vaccine could be available February next year at the earliest.
With a specific medicine that could nip the virus in the bud and not just alleviate the sufferings of severely infected patients yet to be discovered and the vaccine still in the process of development, our best bet for survival is heeding directives given by health authorities. They know better than the armchair experts and the skeptics around us.
And most people in COVID-19 stricken areas are heeding the advice of their duly-constituted authorities – to wear masks whenever they venture outside of their homes, to frequently wash their hands, and to strictly observe “social distancing.” Most people, nowadays, are learning to be obedient. If in the past they blatantly disregarded existing rules, now they toe the lines and do exactly what their leaders are saying. If in the past they would march to the streets whenever their civil liberties are violated, now they have willingly surrendered some of them. They allowed themselves, for their own sake anyway, to be incarcerated in their own homes to venture out only at designated times of the day to buy whatever they need or transact very urgent business matters. Most people in most countries are quarantined for a certain period of time. This, of course, are done only in countries where total lockdowns were declared.
Only a handful of the countries where the COVID-19 is wrecking havoc did not implement lockdowns and it remains to be seen how such would affect their management of the contagion. But the epidemiologists are unequivocal in asserting that to effectively stem the further spread of the contagion “social distancing” is a must. With big cities and urban areas being densely populated, quarantining people in their own homes is seemingly the only way to effectively implement “social distancing.” There are already countries who did not impose lockdowns realizing this rather belatedly, and the results are regretful. The South Korean government ensured the even if they did not declare lockdowns, especially in areas most affected by the virus, their citizens would strictly observe “social distancing.” They did. The South Koreans obeyed resulting to incidents of viral infections gradually abating
The reason citizens in countries where lockdowns were implemented embraced their fate and agreed to the stringent measures being put up by their governments is that they understand that these are not ordinary times and that there is only one right that counts now – the right to live. People are beginning to trust their leaders.
Conversely, people in leadership positions are showing more resolve in enforcing the necessary measures to ensure the safety and well-being of their constituents. They seem to be more sincere in what they say and do. The novel corona virus have brought the governments and their people closer. Covid-19 have also broken the walls that divide the ruling party and the opposition. Politicking is being set aside. They both need to sing the same tune and dance coordinately to that tune.
In dire situations like this that governments need to assure their people that they are on top of the situation. And indeed leaders of the different countries affected by the current crisis should tighten their grip, not only to ensure that they could provide the assistance they are capable of giving to their citizens but also in making sure that the adventurists would not take advantage of the situation.
There are certain values also that most societies in different parts of the world have neglected that are slowly re-emerging. One of them is civic responsibility. Governments know that when they enforced lockdowns, economic activities ground to a halt. Consequently, businesses are closed and people could not work for they ought to be staying at home. So, the governments felt obliged, to extend all kinds of assistance for their citizens. But some countries have limited resources. They are incapable of helping their citizens sufficiently, especially if the COVID-19 crisis will last long. So, citizens who have the capability are offering help. From out of their own pockets they are donating either cash or in kind to organizations giving relief goods to the needy. We see some of the wealthy people becoming instant philanthropists.
These are the silver linings amid all the horrors we are witnessing.
Because of the COVID-19, people are learning to care for each other. They are willingly sharing whatever they could for their fellowmen, helping them in any way they could. We are rediscovering the meaning of community. We are seeing people expressing their support and appreciation for the efforts of the doctors, nurses, and volunteers who are unselfishly putting their own lives in the line to try to save the lives of or at least alleviate the sufferings of the those who were infected by the virus.
The COVID-19 crisis is also making us realize what really are the basic essentials of life, the very basic things we need – food, simple clothes and shelter. What’s the use now of all our extra possessions – nice cars, expensive jewelry, and designer’s clothing?
The COVID-19 is reminding us as well of our mortality. It’s forcing us to rethink how are we treating our bodies. Are we taking good care of it to the point that we are eliminating disease as the possible cause of our untimely demise? This deadly virus is telling us that whatever are our pursuits and endeavors in life, we cannot afford to disregard our health.
Lockdowns enforced by governments reunited families. Yes, forcing us to stay at home brought us back to our family. We have never been closer to our loved ones than nowadays. Perhaps most of us finally realized that at the end we only have each other to rely on. The COVID-19 scare made us embrace our loved ones tighter than never before.
And there is one more that the current pandemic rekindled – spirituality. The COVID-19 brought us back not only to our family but also to God. The faith community have never prayed so hard supplicating Him to end the crisis. We have never seen believers praying unselfishly, praying not only for themselves and their loved ones and friends but for the rest of humanity… praying that may God give the leaders of all nations the wisdom and resolve to lead and protect their citizens in these critical times… praying that may He help the scientists and medical experts find in the soonest possible time the cure and develop the vaccine against this pestilence… praying that may He protect and strengthen the health professionals in hospitals and care homes helping the victims of the virus… praying that may He help the COVID-19 patients recover… praying that may He grant eternal repose to the souls of those who died because of the virus.
It’s sad that it is only in times of tragedy that we remember Him.
We know that God’s love and mercy for humanity abound. He will listen to our prayers… in His own time.
The one thing that we should not forget – it’s not the end of the world. It has not stopped spinning.
We have a life to live, with or without COVID.
COVIDized
A new word may soon be added to the English vocabulary – “covidized.” Should it happen, it might end up as the word of the year and even of the current decade. Very likely that lexicographers would classify it as a participial adjective and assign the following meaning to it: infected, affected, or influenced by COVID-19.
We may say that persons are covidized if it is confirmed that they are infected by the virus. For those who find the expressions “COVID-19 positive” or “infected by COVID-19” too long, “covidized” is a good alternative, especially for writers who may no longer wish to hit the “caps lock” on their keyboards to capitalize the letters C – O – V – I – D and to not move a little bit higher anymore certain fingers to hit the hyphen and the numbers 1 and 9.
Instead of saying that “the COVID-19 pandemic has affected many parts of the world”, we may simply say that “the whole world has been covidized” (Yes, except Antartica). Some countries are more affected by the pandemic than the others. And now that the US has more cases than any other country in the world, we may say “US is currently the most covidized country in the world.” That is if confirmed number of cases is the basis for determining which country is most covidized. Should the criterion be number of deaths, the dubious distinction “most covidized country in the world” would belong to… the US also. But the title “the first covidized country in the world” belongs to China. The last country to be covidized remains unknown. North Korea, reporting only one case (as of the 26th of July, 2020), is the “least covidized country” in the world.
Most of the current policies and decisions governments of countries, corporations, companies, and organizations are formulating and implementing are all covidized. Meaning that those policies and decisions are influenced by present and emerging social, political, and economic realities and trends brought forth by the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The world economy has been covidized and experts warned that we are facing global recession that may be worse than that one triggered by the global financial crisis in 2008. Because of the lockdowns imposed by many of the countries that were covidized, almost all economic activities ground to a halt. Most people couldn’t work to earn a living. Governments are now providing all forms of assistance they could offer to their citizens. But not all countries have vast resources that would enable them to help their people for a long period of time should the COVID-19 crisis drags on for months or, God forbid, years.
Even if we are not infected by the virus, we are all covidized in one way or the other. Our way of life drastically changed since the COVID-19 wreaked havoc. We are encouraged to wash our hands frequently, to wear masks wherever we go, and to strictly observe “social distancing.” We need to abide by these directives for our own sake. We are also told to stay inside our homes and avoid large gatherings as much as possible. Consequently, most people have not attended church services for a long time now. Church leaders responded by providing their members church services online.
People are advised also to avoid going to theatres, internet cafés, and videoke bars. Their main sources of entertainment nowadays are the Internet, TV, and radio. And since fitness centers are included among the places that people should avoid, they either exercise using whatever equipment they have at home or not exercise at all. In some countries where total lockdowns and curfews are observed, people are forced to stay at home and are not allowed to go out at night and to travel even just to the next town or village during daytime.
These covidized advisories are all necessary for our survival. If we don’t follow them, we are endangering our own lives and may be compromising the safety of our loved ones and other people as well.
We should bear in mind that anyone could be covidized. The virus spares no one. Even the richest and the most powerful are not immune to the disease. It doesn’t respect age as well. We know that the elderly people are more vulnerable to it but this should not make the members of the Gen Y and the Gen Z complacent. They could get infected also if they are stubborn and careless. Even the healthiest of athletes who are known for their ultra-healthy lifestyle are susceptible to COVID-19. So, nobody is safe. Anybody could be covidized at any given time.
We now live in a covidized world. We have no choice but to embrace covidized realities and move on.
COVID-19 Watch: What Lies Ahead For the Academic Community
We are currently witnessing the effects of the COVID-19 crisis. It’s horrifying, to say the least, and nobody knows when would it end.
The impact to the global economy is devastating. Many businesses in most affected countries have shut down (hopefully temporarily). There are shops and stores where people buy their basic needs that remain open for the few who are brave enough to venture out of their homes. But people nowadays would rather order whatever they need online. For some kinds of jobs, workers were asked to “work from home.” Even in countries where there are no reported cases of contagion, business activities are negatively affected. Consequently, stock markets tumbled in recent days.
The societal implications are just as bad. The COVID-19 scare disrupted the normal flow of people’s lives and made social distancing a norm. There is less social interactions nowadays. Authorities have advised people to either stay at home or limit their movement for them not to get infected, or not to infect others in the event that they carry the virus without them knowing. People were told also to strictly avoid mass gatherings and religious activities.
People have no choice but to heed and cooperate. As a result, streets and public parks are empty even in some areas where there are no reported cases of infections. Church organizations in countries like China, South Korea, Japan, Italy, and Iran where there are numerous cases of infections either volunteered (or were forced by their governments) not to hold activities for the meantime in order to prevent their members from congregating and possibly spread the virus if any of them happens to have been infected.
What about in the academe?
Like in the churches and business establishments, schools are where people gather, the majority of which, of course, are students.
There is no way that the operation of schools can be totally stopped (unless perhaps in an extreme situation when public safety so requires). It can be delayed for a limited period of time, but eventually students will have to be sent back to school. Curriculums are time bound so schools have to reopen.
Education ministries of affected countries (like here in South Korea) have already postponed the opening of classes. But eventually schools would reopen. When finally they do (open), how ready are the school authorities?
Administrators of schools have their hands full. They ought to take a proactive stance. They need to prepare a COVID-19 strategy.
Protocols designed to prevent infection and transmission of the disease should be in place before the students, the academic and non-academic employees, and school officials return to the campus. Just a single infection would cause a shutdown of school operations for a certain period of time. That would definitely disrupt the school calendar and shake the confidence of parents who might, at the extreme, no longer allow their children to return to school. So, it’s a must that all the necessary precautions should be in place.
Creating protocols is easy. The difficult part is the implementation. It would entail the cooperation of everybody in the campus. As it is, asking young people to tow the line is a very tricky business. And that is what would make the implementation of protocols a real challenge.
There is one item in the students’ demographic profile school authorities should pay attention to when creating protocols – geographical origin. There are areas (in particular countries, and particular areas in those countries) affected by the COVID-19. Given the fact that (according to experts) the virus have an incubation period (2 weeks or even more) before symptoms manifest, what is the assurance that students returning to school from the affected areas who appear to be healthy are not carrying the virus unknowingly? How would school policy makers deal with this? This is particularly tricky in the case of universities where students come from different parts of a particular country, not unlike in basic education institutions (elementary and high schools) whose enrolees would normally come only from a limited geographical area. There are universities too with students coming from foreign countries. And that thickens the plot.
Even the geographical origins of the academic and non-academic employees of schools – particularly the teachers – must be considered in the creation of protocols for the reopening of classes. They too could appear and feel healthy but unbeknownst to them, they already have the virus in their bodies.
Everybody in the campus must be asked to disclose their travel history, domestic and international. They ought to self-quarantine for two weeks before entering the campus had they traveled in any area/country with reported cases of infections.
Whatever protocols school authorities implement in response to COVID-19 contagion, all stakeholders – students and their parents, employees, and school officials themselves – need to embrace and understand. Nobody should take offense. On their part, school authorities need to ensure that the guidelines and policies they formulate are reasonable and not discriminatory or racist in any way.
It is possible that in the process of implementing new guidelines and policies designed to prevent the virus from spreading in the campus, certain basic rights of individuals might be affected. These are no ordinary times. Thus, utmost cooperation and understanding of everybody in the campus are needed. These guidelines and policies are certainly transitory in character. They will die a natural death when the COVID-19 crisis is over.
Academic freedom is not under threat because of the virus. There is, however, a possibility that faculty members maybe asked to deliver instruction online in order to limit the movement of both students and teachers or avoid direct contact. This would require teachers to redesign their course syllabus so learning could take place even if the students are confined in their respective homes. Online learning is not difficult to do given present technological advancements. Actually, it is not something new. To this scheme, the teachers could not invoke their right to determine how should they deliver instruction and say no. If the reason for a possible disagreement from teachers is their inability to use technology then they (the teachers) have (and would be) a problem.
The challenge now for the academic community is to look for other methods to achieve course objectives. Desperate times call for desperate measures and given the current situation educators need to think of alternative ways to make education work. There are existing distance learning methods that could be considered.
With the COVID-19 continuing its havoc, expect a different campus when classes resume. The atmosphere will be different. It’s not a question of what could be done but what must be done. Everybody must be required to enter the campus through specific entry points so their body temperature could be checked, vehicles entering the school must be sprayed with disinfectants, thermal scanners must be installed at entry points in the campus, a campus-wide fumigation must be done at least once a week, there must be sanitizers in the entrances and exits of buildings and of individual offices and classrooms, and everybody in the campus, especially the students and teachers in the classrooms must be required to wear face masks at all times.
School authorities must also get the assurance from suppliers of any products that not a single contaminated item would enter the campus. Even the entry of food from restaurants around school campuses must be regulated. School policy makers should not leave no stone unturned. As Benjamin Franklin said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
More importantly, everybody in the campus must be taught (and constantly reminded of) the precautionary measures for them not to get infected. Health personnel must be trained how to deal with COVID-19 cases if and when – God forbid – they occur.
M.A.D. LIGAYA
M.A.D. L I G A Y A 