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The importance of two-way communication

Two of the speakers at the afternoon press conference on the current COVID-19 situation were Maja Kalin, the president of the Slovenian High-school Student Organization (DOS), and Robert Masten from the Psychology department of the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana.

Maja Kalin, the president of the Slovenian High-school Student Organization (DOS)

Maja Kalin, the president of the Slovenian High-school Student Organization (DOS) | Author Nebojša Tejić, STA

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Two-way communication, an essential part of the educational process, is made more difficult by distance learning. Considering this fact, Kalin believes that high-school students should be proactive and let their professors know if the quality of lessons for a specific subject is suffering. They could also advise them how to improve their lessons and make them more interesting. The DOS is monitoring the measures that affect the field of education, and is appropriately involved in the process. The president of DOS also encouraged the students to help their colleagues and pay attention to their psychological and physical state, keeping both at a sufficiently high level. They should also be mindful of older people.

Masten spoke about the greatest hardships people currently face. No community is perfect, and unfortunately the members of a community can cause suffering to one another. The environment we live in can also be the source of the greatest distress, such as violence, silence, and alcohol. However, the community can also help people to get through it. People from the community can console us, offer us a kind word, or help us set up a computer, which encourages us. If we make enemies of our fellow community members, this can come back to bite us. Masten encouraged everyone to create a culture of solidarity. He encouraged the strong to take more responsibility than the weak, both in families, where adults have more responsibility than the teenagers, and in school, where teachers have more responsibility than the students, and teenagers more than the younger kids.