First the students were gloomy, now it’s just learn, learn, learn

Four weeks ago, Jolene Bierman (19) from Zevenbergen stopped with her studies; Defense Care Training. She didn’t get the support she needed, she says. “Ten minutes of explanation online, then do the assignment yourself. Home. -Alone. Then I would put my laptop aside and go make something to eat or walk the dog.”

She also dreaded the upcoming sports test – „A kind Camp of Koningsbrugge including running 2,100 meters, lifting 25 kilos, sit-ups, push-ups and pull-ups”. Normally, the students train for this on campus during school hours, under the supervision of a sports teacher or sergeant. But due to the corona measures, Jolene had to prepare herself for this test with a few training schedules. Running from lamppost to lamppost in the street and planks in the grass, totally dependent on her own motivation. “So that didn’t work. I should have trained four times a week, but only exercised once.”

The fact that school was not going well gave her a lot of stress, she says. “I withdrew and was grumpy. I preferred to stay in my bed all day, I felt useless and didn’t feel like going anywhere. Studying was therefore unsustainable for me.”

Daan de Glee (20) from Barneveld stopped last year with his biology studies at Utrecht University. He found the many long online classes “boring” and difficult to sustain. He missed contact with fellow students and the practicals that are normally a fixed part of the curriculum.

“It is because of corona that I did not pass my first year,” says Ruben Poelhekke (19), who also stopped his study of technical public administration in Delft last year.

More dropouts give corona as an argument, according to research of Qompas, knowledge center for career development. Of the more than a thousand dropouts who participated in the survey, 85 percent indicated that online education contributed to this: ‘not motivating’, ‘missed social contact’, ‘could not follow the material well’ and ‘found it boring’. The majority (59 percent) was dissatisfied with the guidance of first-year students during corona. Three quarters felt lonely. All recognizable for Daan, Jolene and Ruben.

“Abandoning and switching is of all times,” says child and youth psychologist Marga Akkerman. “It is understandable that students mainly attribute this to online lessons, but that is not the only problem. The motivational network that you normally have in education has disappeared. No working groups, no preparing exams together in the university library. A study program is not only about the lectures, but also about contact with fellow students. Going through the material in a group provides new insights and gives you a better grip on your study.”

fresh phrase

For the series ‘Unlucky birds’ follows NRC a group of young people, including Daan and Jolene, for almost two years now. They took their final exams in corona time and started studying behind a screen instead of in a lecture hall surrounded by new friends. After a year of sober life they were resigned, sometimes gloomy and tired. They showed little initiative and the resilience that psychologists consider necessary to get through this time well was hard to find.

Now that the masks are allowed to take off, lecture halls are accessible again, gyms are open and the terraces are full, that useless and depressed feeling disappears. With a fresh mind, Ruben registered for economics and business economics in Rotterdam. Daan also started a new study, this time at higher professional education: a biology teacher. “Because I have physical lectures again, I understand better what I am learning. For the first time in the morning when I get up I think: yes, I’m going to school today.”

Jolene has also improved since she dropped out of school. “I noticed the difference right away. I am happy and think positive again.” She no longer stays in bed, in fact, she gets up earlier than ever. She works in a nursing home in Roosendaal. She gave up her room in Eindhoven, she lives with her mother in Zevenbergen again. She had to get used to that. “I had my own place, my own rules, my own times. At the same time, it is nice that the food is now ready when I come home after a shift. And I have people around me again. In Eindhoven I had days when I was alone in my room and saw no one.” She works an average of four days a week in the nursing home: “I take all open shifts.” At 7 o’clock she starts showering patients, taking care of them, making breakfast, measuring blood pressure. “The people I care for are grateful, ‘It’s great to have you back, girl,’ they say. I want to continue working in healthcare. In September I will start the BBL nursing course, which is four days of work and one day of learning.”

Ruben Poelhekke went home after a year of studying at home: from Vreeland to Rotterdam, together with a friend in rooms. “I live five minutes away from campus and have a lot more social interaction. That helps me a lot. I feel a connection with the university and I am motivated this year.”

The university pays attention to ‘student wellness’, he noticed: “Recently there was a tent in the middle of the campus where you could play pool and table tennis. All games aimed at coming together and making contact.”

more resourceful

Daan also leaves home, although it is very close: to the shed in the garden that he himself converted into living space with his father and a group of handy friends. “Finally” – the renovation took just under two years. He looks at furniture online every spare minute. “I’m looking for a crazy chair and a nice rug.” In any case, he has enough green, he just came back from the garden center. “Since I put time into plants, I see how nice they are. After a lesson in the greenhouse we were allowed to take cuttings. In the meantime I have twenty plants. It’s gotten a bit out of hand, I can’t sit at my desk normally anymore.”

Daan is doing an internship at a secondary school, he teaches biology to primary, secondary and pre-university students. “I get an 8 on average for my bachelor’s degree. -Last year I was the kid who was in the back of the class, now I’m in the front and I want to -just learn, learn, learn.”

When Daan looks back on the past two years, he has become better at dealing with setbacks, he says. “When I started university, I sometimes felt lonely and gloomy. During lockdowns I wanted to do something social, but I had no idea what. I have become more resourceful.” During the last lockdown, he rented a house with six friends in a holiday park in Scherpenzeel. “We played loud music all week and partied until six in the morning. At the end I left a review: ‘What a beautiful holiday park, surrounded by nature and birds. It was wonderfully peaceful.”

Psychologists and educators have been talking more and more about resilience development in recent years: they don’t protect children against disappointments, but they learn to deal with them. That is the biggest gain of the corona period, says Marga Akkerman. “In the media, the group of depressed young people grew larger and larger, as if their gloomy mood of the past two years is irreparable, but then you are doing them short. As soon as their situation improves, they will recover and catch up.”

More than ever, Daan has a clear plan: to become a biology teacher at a secondary school. Preferably one where he has both mavo, havo and vwo students. “Mavo classes often have a pleasant, energetic atmosphere. It is a misconception that MAVO students are uninterested. You have to make it concrete for them. They have the best questions. Such as: ‘Sir, why does coffee make me fit?’ I can deal with complicated issues with pre-university students, which is also nice.”

Jolene wants to work many hours in the nursing home, she is saving for a trip to South Korea with her scouting club. The World Jamboree will be held there next year, „an international scouting event, about 50,000 people come. A mega festival with great artists and sports activities such as rafting, sailing, climbing and canoeing.” Daan is looking forward to a week of school excursions: studying animals and plants in Limburg, drilling holes in the ground, looking at the landscape. “Everyone sleeps there. And then hope that no one has corona.”