In this conversation from December 2020, my student talks about the mental toll virtual learning took on her and her friends. The lack of social interaction, the pressure to keep up, and the unrealistic expectations had worn them down. They weren’t learning, and they had lost their motivation.

I agreed. We were asking too much from students in a system that couldn’t deliver. My student’s honesty reveals a mental health crisis that was unfolding in real time.

This isn’t just about virtual school—it’s about what we were allowed to put public school children and teenagers through, against all research, logic, common sense, or basic human decency.

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