Online schools rather than public schools

[willywonka666]

Recently a school about an hour or so away from me announced they were terminating 12 teaching positions and some of the kids will actually take some online classes at the nearby community college.

So can you see a time, where they might move from having actual schools as we know them now, to teaching online. Maybe using skype, or just taking online courses like they do now for college?

I think it's important for kids to interact daily with other kids, and it's a shame that they are getting to the point of laying off teachers and eliminating jobs,but is this still a possibility?

[Hit Girl]

I doubt it, but information technology has certainly made it easier for people to self-educate at their own pace and according to their own interests, rather than the mass education system, even if a lot of the information they assimilate may be bollocks.

[willywonka666]

Of course, they need the human element to help explain things too though. One would go crazy being on the computer for 8 hours a day, but they could get down to brass tacks and only have a minimal amount of actual teachers and smaller schools

[FinalGwen]

Every time the day to submit coursework came up at my University, the network became almost impossible to connect to, and they had to extend the deadline because it crashed so frequently. That in itself makes online schools seem like a stupid idea. Imagine that every time there's homework.

There's also the loss of social interaction, kids not even getting the exercise that comes from walking from class to class, etc.

And in the end, not everyone has the money to keep a stable, reliable internet connection going, to have computers that'll run all the software the school would need, and so forth. Regular state schools are a levelling idea, rather than an exclusionary one, and to lose that would be to lose the entire idea.

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

doubtful. if it were purely online you'd have nobody to clarify or explain things. you ever tried learning something JUST from reading it in a book? people aren't wired that way. on the one hand evaluation would be more objective, on the other hand how useful would that learning actually be

[Banecat]

I'm not a parent, but I wouldn't allow this. School isn't all just academic teaching. Children learn how to operate in a social environment during their schooling career. I also wouldn't use online colleges as college is mostly about gaining connections. It's not what you know, it's who you know that is important in the job market.

[Brother Nero....Wolfe]

There are already online high schools(at least in Canada, not sure about everywhere else) which you can totally take as opposed to going to normal school. Only thing is that they are private at the moment. I took a year of online high school due to health reasons, but anyone can take it. I have to say one thing:

I learned a lot more in online high school than when I was actually there and it took way less of my time. But it was also more boring. So eh. It's not that much different from homeschooling, I imagine.

Feb 8, 2013 10:35:03 GMT -5 Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!! said:

doubtful. if it were purely online you'd have nobody to clarify or explain things. you ever tried learning something JUST from reading it in a book? people aren't wired that way. on the one hand evaluation would be more objective, on the other hand how useful would that learning actually be

For online high schools(and even online college courses) you generally have a discussion board for each course you are taking where you can post questions and the teacher(or other students) can clarify it for you.