SUNY Oswego student questions college education amid pandemic

OSWEGO N.Y. — Millions of college students nationwide have had their education altered one way or another due to the pandemic, including Kevin Zawacki, who will be graduating from SUNY Oswego next spring.

“I lost a semester of time, I lost a semester of experience, and I didn’t get to do a lot of the things that I need to be able to know for teaching,” said Kevin as he explained how remote learning affected him.

Kevin is a technology education major and plans on getting a teaching job directly after college, though he’s unsure that his collegiate experience adequately prepared him for his future career.

“As a tech ed major, I’m really hands-on in this field and going home for the pandemic really messed with me,” said Kevin.

“Many tech ed majors are tacto-kinesthetic… We learn best when we’re actually touching and making the things we are doing in our classes.”

Although SUNY Oswego has transitioned back to in-person learning, students of all majors, especially technology majors, were unable to be properly instructed online and missed out on several key learning experiences that they’ll need moving forward.

“I can’t state that enough how much I would feel more prepared if I didn’t have that break. I wasted a semester is pretty much how I look at it.”

Kevin is only one person in a large group of SUNY Oswego students who feel skeptical about their altered education as they move onwards to their careers following graduation.