As students throughout the Salt Lake City School District are navigating their way through online learning, many are finding that a digital classroom just isn’t the right fit for them. They want schools to open back up to in-person learning. Those students made their voices heard at schools across the valley on Dec. 7th, rallying at their respective schools and the schools of family members.

Students gathered in front of Highland, holding signs reading “Equal Access to Quality Learning,” “I Give SLCSD an F,” “We Deserve Better,” and other slogans for in-person learning. Students who stood up to give speeches or to just express their opinion about online learning were met with cheers from the socially-distanced and masked crowd.

Senior Josh Richards addressed the crowd. He believes that students should have the right to choose what is best for them, online or in-person attendance.

“It’s very simple for me, and it should be very simple for everybody. There are people who are at risk, and there are people whose lives are in danger, and those people should have the option to stay home, but the rest of us should have the opportunity to go to school and to learn and to be in an environment where learning is natural and right,” Richards said. “I think that online is just, it’s not right. Everyone knows it and it just doesn’t go well for anyone. My sign says online school is garbage and that’s because it is.”

Students attending the rally at Highland came from many different grade levels, including some middle and elementary grades. All had their own opinions about distance learning. Even elementary-aged students got in on the protest.

“It’s harder without someone there to help you,” fourth-grader Morgan Massey said.

Her friend Gretchen Gardner agreed, pointing out how difficult she thought learning online is for her and her classmates.

“If they tell us to do something and we don’t get it, you can’t just raise your hand or really do anything,” Gardner said.

“If you raise your hand on Zoom and the teacher isn’t paying attention to you, it takes her longer to answer,” Massey said.

Many other students are finding that it is difficult to not be in a classroom with a teacher who can give their class proper attention.

“The hardest part [about online learning] is not being with the teacher and able to get guidance or like when you ask questions, being able to see it visually,” Highland senior Sophie Dunn said. “That’s been really hard for me.”

It’s not just being away from a teacher that students are struggling with, either. Many have discovered a host of other problems that make it hard for them to learn online.

Junior Thomas Clawson said that having multiple siblings who are all in school makes at-home learning difficult.

“I share an area with my two brothers, my sister is downstairs, and so it’s just a lot going on at a certain time” Clawson said. “People tend to just not participate a lot too, so I feel like I’m not really learning anything. I’m in classes with all black boxes, breakout rooms are awkward, and I just feel like I’m not really learning.”

Difficulties with online learning aren’t unique to these students. A recent report done by the Salt Lake Tribune shows that grades from students in the SLC School District plummeted during the first term, with a 600% increase in secondary (high school) students alone who failed one or more classes. The increase in failing grades has many concerned about the effect this will have on graduation rates in the coming years.

Students see going back to in-person as the solution to this issue.

“I think that for people who have a harder time learning online, I think that just being able to go back, I bet you would see grades go up, and mentality would probably improve quite a bit as well,” Dunn said.

Even with the push from students to go back in person, the biggest hurdle still remains — the risk of spreading COVID-19. However, students advocating for returning to schools see students from other schools attending. Highland senior Jane Erickson thinks that if they can do it, so can Salt Lake students.

“I think the other districts that have gone back in school have shown that methods they’ve used have been effective, or if they haven’t been effective they’ve learned from them,” Erickson said. “So you know, masks and social distancing, and then when there’s a certain number of cases you shut down for however long is necessary, and then you go back and you can change your methods if you know of something that works better or just keep doing what you were doing before.”

Clawson had similar thoughts on what protective measures should be taken.

“I think, honestly, the same precautions we’re taking everywhere else, like six-foot distance between desks and stuff like mask wearing and if teachers are uncomfortable with that we can have extra levels of distance between the teachers,” Clawson said. “But I honestly think that we’ve been used to wearing masks and social distancing for so long that it wouldn’t be much of a problem.”

The SLCSD decided in November to allow elementary students to begin attending in-person classes starting in late January. The plan as of right now is to allow prekindergarten, kindergarten, and first-grade students to return the week of Jan. 25. Second and third-graders will be allowed back Feb. 1, and fourth, fifth, and sixth-graders will return Feb. 8.

The decision left elementary school students and parents with mixed feelings, while high school and middle school students and their families were left wondering if and when the board would allow them to return as well.

“If it is up to the school board, they should be recognizing that there are rallies happening,” Erickson said. “Kids need to go back to school.”