When I was in high school, I took a web design class so that I could have access to programs like Dreamweaver. On the first day, the class had 30 students, and everyone was so excited about how they were going to design the "prettiest websites on the internet". Students were shouting, "I bet my website is going to be better than yours", from across the classroom, and all was well in the web design class. But then it happened. After only 3 weeks, there were only 6 people in the class remaining, with 2 people ditching regularly. Do you know why most of the students transferred out? Because they made the assumption that designing a website would be fun and would only require your imagination and minimal effort, and when it didn't turn out the way they wanted it to be, they quit.So what did that story have to do with online school? The reason I told the story was because when it comes to the unknown, people let their imaginations run wild and start making assumptions about it. So when they hear about "online school", they probably think that they're going to get to go to school on Facebook or Twitter. They think to themselves, "I can go to school on the internet AND talk to my friends in my pyjamas without getting in trouble? Sign me up"! But then once they get into the program, they want to quit because they realise it's nothing like Facebook, in fact, it's a lot like school work.
The problem with going to online school with this mentality is that you're going to be facetious about your work and inevitably fail your classes. Some students even believe that since they attend an "easier" alternative to traditional school, they can now go on unbridled vacations whenever they want to, leading to truancy. The unbridled student is subsequently expelled from school, which causes people like Amy to start whinging about how bad online school is on Facebook. So now, here are some misconceptions people make about online school.
"It's going to be easy, so I can just go on vacation"!
YOU were expelled because YOU failed to attend your classes, not because the program placed you in a basic-level math class that you failed. Or maybe you weren't expelled for that, maybe you were expelled for raping the English language.
"My precocious child doesn't need my support"!
In some cases, it isn't entirely the students fault for failing in an online school. When you have unsupportive parents like Peggy, it can be difficult to concentrate on your work.
Stupid Peggy Hill pedant. Some parents will place their child in an online school, and then play the role of a Deist god by not interacting with their child's education any further. In Peggy's case, she only dislikes online school because her daughter wanted to live with her father, not because her daughter is a year behind in school. Because her daughter is also indolent and didn't attend her classes (because her unsupprotive mother didn't monitor her school work), she was more than likely expelled like Amy, so now it's the online school's fault that her daughter is lazy.
Another variant of the unsupportive parent is the doubtful parent. The doubtful parent will initially refuse to give online school a chance because they think that an automated system will teach them (most teachers have live video chat sessions with the class), or that you'll be required to give up your freedom of socialising with other students. But the doubtful parent doesn't have many options, so they place their child on an online school anyway. Those parents will continue to doubt and criticise the program until the very day that their child graduates from it. Now suddenly super mom has decided that online school is the best thing in the world. The reason that they are so apprehensive about it is because it deviates away from what they experienced when they were younger, or in Nancy's case, because they think they're the best traditional school teachers and that traditional school is the only way to learn (ignoring autodidacticism, mentors, and home school parents).
"This won't work out, I just know it won't work out, unless it does work out".
"I am a traditional school teacher. What I say is a fact, and I'm not convinced that this will work".
Oh, you're a teacher, huh? Well that must mean that you have an expert opinion on what makes someone a good teacher! Wow, it's a good thing we have an expert's opinion on this subject! I'm sure that since you're such an expert on teaching methods, your student's test scores must be the best in the school for you to be so critical of how another teacher teaches their students!
As a former student, I expected a little more.
"My child will not be able to socialise if they're silhouetted by the monitor light all day"!
Some parents also have the notion that their children "won't be able to socialise", so they refuse to support their child's desire to attend an online school.
The problem with saying that your child will not be able to socialise is that you're admitting to being a lazy parent. As stated by many other people, you can always have your child join a sport or volunteer in the community.
Rubbish. The classroom setting is abysmal. They're Overcrowded rooms filled with cantankerous teachers and hipsters, what a nightmare! "Socially acceptable behaviour" just means they want you to be like everybody else. They want you to go to school, fool around, do drugs and drink, go to prom, get some pregnant in high school, go to college, drop out of college, get married to someone you've only known for 2 months, get divorced after 2 months, have transient relationships with hookers, and then go work in a cubicle for the rest of your life, all so that you can have something to talk about. Online school is also not home school. Home school is where a parent or mentor teaches you, where online school is where a school offers a class on the internet that you can take.
By the way, does having socially acceptable behaviour also mean posing in a string bikini or tiny shorts on Facebook? I don't think your daughter would think that was very "socially acceptable" of mummy.
The problem with saying that your child will not be able to socialise is that you're admitting to being a lazy parent. As stated by many other people, you can always have your child join a sport or volunteer in the community.
Excellent parent!
"The classroom setting is essential, so this just won't work".
Rubbish. The classroom setting is abysmal. They're Overcrowded rooms filled with cantankerous teachers and hipsters, what a nightmare! "Socially acceptable behaviour" just means they want you to be like everybody else. They want you to go to school, fool around, do drugs and drink, go to prom, get some pregnant in high school, go to college, drop out of college, get married to someone you've only known for 2 months, get divorced after 2 months, have transient relationships with hookers, and then go work in a cubicle for the rest of your life, all so that you can have something to talk about. Online school is also not home school. Home school is where a parent or mentor teaches you, where online school is where a school offers a class on the internet that you can take.
By the way, does having socially acceptable behaviour also mean posing in a string bikini or tiny shorts on Facebook? I don't think your daughter would think that was very "socially acceptable" of mummy.
"I'm going to make assumptions about online school because using the internet is too hard"!
This is an example of what I mentioned in the beginning. They assume that it either costs a lot of money, doesn't have teachers, or that they would have to pay attention to their children for once. Some parents start making assumptions instead of using the internet to do research about online schools. Is it really that hard to do your own research?
Not everyone should attend an online school, although saying this will probably make those people who try too hard to be different make an attempt any way. Online school is not for you if you:
- Are not self-motivated
- Have lazy parents
- Are illiterate
- Are computer illiterate
- Are extroverted
- Enjoy going to school only to socialise
- Enjoy the traditional school setting
- Think that it's an easy way to get through school
- Are bad at cheating
- Like texting inside of a classroom
- Want to attend AP/Honours classes
- Want to attend a school with a gifted program
- Want to be different by attending it
- Don't have a computer or access to one (some schools provide one)
- Are indolent
Next week: The Inevitable Life of the Amateur Rapper