Online school is taken by nearly 21% of the students in high school. By most, online school is regarded as easier, faster, and more beneficial than in-person school. But, is that really true if you had to take online school permanently? I asked both CJ Johnnyboy and Will Singleton about the idea of taking online school permanently.
CJ is currently a freshman at Greenwood. He says that you get less interactions with people through online school, which is bad. However, one good thing he said about online school is that you can focus much better. “Sometimes, you have to travel a lot to get to your classes, but meeting others and connecting with them makes up for it” was CJ’s response to discussing the good and bad aspects of school in person. CJ thinks online school can affect friendships and relationships because it does not allow much communication and you can potentially lose your connections. However, he also thinks that grades would improve with online school since you would be less bothered by noises. “For online classes I’d say grades would improve because you’d be more comfortable than in a classroom,” CJ said. Whenever I asked him if students would be more motivated about online, he replied, “Not really, because there’s not really anything exciting about it except for you to just look at your screen and do work which can be boring.” Then, I asked if he thinks teachers would have to teach differently, he said, “Honestly, nah, because teachers can still use their boards and other things to teach students.” He believes that the teaching would be the same except that it is not in person. Since mental health can be a big side effect of online school, I asked CJ if it would affect students in this way. “It can potentially increase stress and anxiety since you stay home for so long and can even cause depression.” Finally, I asked CJ if online school would be better than in person school, and he said, “No, I don’t think it’d be better because in person allows you to increase your creativity of ideas, and you can also interact with more people.”
Next, I talked to Will, who is also a freshman at Greenwood. When I asked about the bad and good things about both online and in person school, he said, “One thing that’s bad is it’s hard to find motivation for work, but the good thing is you can sleep in longer. Then, the good and bad about in person is that there is easier work, but you have to wake up earlier.” He believes that it can affect friendships and relationships negatively since you cannot talk to them in person. Also, he thinks that the grades would be better in person. I asked Will if students would be more motivated about online school. He replied, “No, since online school would demotivate you from your home most of the time.” For mental health, he believes that it would impact them negatively since they cannot interact with their friends in person. He also thought that teachers would have to teach differently for online school. Lastly, I asked if online school or in person was better overall, and he quickly claimed that in person was better.
Overall, most people think online school would be easier than in person school. However, if you suggest the idea of switching to it permanently, CJ and Will think that in person would be better for you physically and mentally.
