Masks and hand sanitizer have been a part of our daily lives for quite some time due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Everyone has opinions on masks and hand sanitizer, people think it’s a very two-sided controversy. Either you like them or you don’t. Mostly only adults’ opinions are taken into consideration, which is how it works for any controversy. But we need to understand that students’ opinions matter too, and it’s very important that we take their opinions and thoughts into consideration when talking about a topic like this, since overall students are the ones who have to do this the most. I have polled 8th grade students from Centennial Middle School to give me their thoughts on masks and hand sanitizer. In this poll I asked a very general question with four answers. “Do you think hand sanitizer and masks are effective? Why or why not?” The students at Centennial had a lot to say and a lot of opinions, the results of the poll are down below. Check it out!

One student who thought they were effective but were also not said “They are effective but we have to use them correctly for it to work. If people don’t use it correctly then there is no point in using it.” Another student said, “Even though masks can be annoying, they are helpful in some ways. No, I do not think that they make a person invulnerable, but they help us to be aware of our health and do a fraction of protection. I do believe that hand sanitizer is effective when used in the right way.” 

Now let’s look at the students who think it is not effective, 4 out of 24 people think that masks and hand sanitizer are not effective. One of those 4 students said, “I think that hand sanitizer can be effective but it isn’t super effective. I do not think that masks help with much of anything.” This quote matters because it’s getting a take on why students think they are somewhat effective and somewhat not. 

Finally, let’s look at the one student who said they were very effective. This student said “The person in charge of the country’s diseases said that masks are more effective than the vaccine right now.” This quote is important because it shows why the student thinks that masks are very important and effective. 

In conclusion, students have many opinions on this topic that we should all take into consideration. But for now we should continue to use masks and hand sanitizer in our lives to stay safe, healthy, and to protect others while protecting ourselves.