BY VIRGINIA PENIAS
The constant struggle and stress of college have most students feeling suffocated while they watch their workload pile up day after day. With colleges taking students’ GPAs into consideration, every point counts. But is taking virtual school classes a satisfactory choice to make for that extra boost to your score? Though a few points can certainly make or break students’ chances of getting into colleges, there are many downfalls of turning to virtual school.
In today’s society, our main sources of communication consist of phones and computers. People already lack an immense amount of social and physical interaction with other humans because they are often too attached to their phone or computer using social networks like Facebook, Instagram, E-mails, and texting. With over 7 billion people in the world, and approximately 800 million of them being active Facebook members, it is no wonder that people would rather spend more time on their computer than they would actually spending time conversing face-to-face. Time not spent in school by students should be spent hanging out and socializing with peers. Being enrolled in virtual school would both prevent students from getting off the computer and going out with friends, and it would keep students from studying with friends and socializing with schoolmates.
While most children are raised in a household with tablets, smart phones, laptops, and high tech appliances, there are those out there that aren’t. Since Internet access is required to complete an online course, finding a computer may be a constant challenge. Though most of us at CCHS are fortunate enough to be able to access computers at home or local public libraries, some kids don’t have that privilege. With online classes requiring a lot of time and dedication, sparse Internet access could be a problem. Many high school students do not have a source of transportation to get to the public library. Even though we are lucky to have computers at our school, we often don’t have enough time to use them seeing as it is only open a half an hour before and after school and many times, there are not enough computers for everybody.
The online course should be completed alone, in the comfort of the student’s home. For some, the motivation of teachers and peers being absent strongly affects the students’ performance and dedication towards the completion of the course, and students must be willing to complete and do well in the course.
Year after year, more and more requirements get added to each graduating class. The graduating class of 2016 is required to take and pass one online course during their time in high school. This, of course, means they have to balance this out with the seven classes they’re already taking at school, along with any jobs, activities, or sports they do. Spending more time on the computer and less time playing sports and attending after school clubs and meetings reduces students’ chances of being classified as a well-rounded student, but with all of these tasks being thrown at these kids, there’s no wonder it is so difficult to acquire acceptance by the best colleges out there.
Virtual school is not nearly as beneficial as physically going to school. Though high school may be a drag at times, virtual school is no walk in the park either. Taking away from time that could be spent interacting with others, these online classes are not in any way, as sufficient or as achievable as school is for students.
