As students adjust to staying home and doing all schoolwork online amid the COVID-19 crisis, many wonder: is online schooling as effective as traditional, on-campus schooling?

YES:

I understand that online school has its challenges but with proper resources and time management skills, it can be just as effective as in-class learning.

 Many people feel that online learning can be socially isolating but with modern technology, these issues along with many others can be addressed well. Today, using online communication methods including Zoom, Facetime and email, students have the opportunity to interact with both teachers and their peers.

 Online school allows students to work at their own pace and at their own schedule. They have the freedom to tailor their study hours to fit into their lives however they choose. For example, if a student struggles more in math than history they can spend extra time focusing on math lessons.

With flexible hours online schooling is helpful for students who have challenging schedules with sports, acting, modeling, etc. or are fighting illnesses. With traditional in-class school, there is tremendous pressure for students and teachers to attend school even when they are not feeling well. Online school removes this pressure to show up to class coughing and sneezing. 

The current generation of kids is extremely comfortable with technology, so they easily learn the applications required for remote learning. These applications also prepare them well for future careers because the work world utilizes these same applications in many different fields. 

For people that are easily self-motivated, online schooling is great because they have the ability to create the best experience for themselves whether that is graduating early or simply studying at a slightly faster pace. For those who are not naturally self-motivated, remote learning helps teach them responsibility and how to stay on task. 

Online learning is structured more similarly to college work than traditional in-class high school. For those who are planning on going to college, online school helps prepare them to be more independent and manage their time well. 

With online school students need to rely on themselves to know when their work is due because teachers will not be constantly reminding them. They also have to learn how to pace their work and figure out how long assignments will take them to complete. Even non-college bound students will benefit from learning these important skills that are necessary to obtain a good online education. 

Although online school can be a challenge, these difficulties can be overcame with practice and the benefits far outway the disadvantages. 

Written by Grace Williams

NO:

With the constant fear of what’s outside our homes and COVID-19 spreading like wildfire, how is distance learning supposed to teach us as much as physically attending school? Distance learning is constantly changing and that’s not helpful to anybody, especially students. 

With all the time left in the day after a maximum of 4 hours of “class” a day and so much time in between, we aren’t given the structure that school gives us. Distance learning isn’t giving us any advantages and is simply ineffective in comparison. 

Zoom gives the ability to turn off your camera and microphone during meetings and with that, it gives students greater opportunity to fool around during class without the teacher’s knowledge. While most teachers make student’s turn in assignments, others are strictly honor code and that allows students to skimp on their work and learning.

While some teachers assign the same amount of work as any other day, other teachers are loading on a ton more homework which isn’t beneficial to anybody. Instead of making yet another change, time spent on homework should stay the same. I don’t enjoy insane amounts of homework while I’m anxious about COVID-19 and I believe my peers would agree with me.

Now I know that quarantine is mandatory and social distancing is crucial, but we need to be able to connect to others face-to-face and not via electronic devices. While FaceTime and Instagram keep us connected even when we’re healthy, it’s hard to only see your friends electronically when you’re used to seeing them almost every day at school. 

“Evidently, there is a certain atmosphere in being physically present and interacting with a human teacher in a set time and place that is crucial to learning,” Amy Hassenburg wrote.

We need interaction. It’s as simple as that. That doesn’t mean with classmates, or teachers or friends specifically, but the feeling of walking down the hall and seeing the mass of people around you. We need to interact with our learning in a way that we cannot acquire by sitting in front of a computer all day and just seeing what we learn. School gives us the hands on approach that distance learning cannot and will not provide us. 

Written by Millie Alba-Sommers