The Downside of Cyber Schooling

Transcription

1 Thompson 1 Taylor Thompson Professor Melissa Hamilton English 101: Thought and Expression 9 December 2013 We Don t Need That Advancement Over the past few decades, advancements in technology have shaped the way our society is run. This phenomenon has taken control over huge parts of our lives, such as communication, and in recent years, has even found its way into our education as a helpful and essential tool for completing work. The help we receive making things that much easier for classrooms is introducing the future of schooling through cyber schools and programs such as K-12, a nationwide online-schooling program. This alternative proves to be useful for those with special circumstances but in its entirety, may not be helpful in the end. Although cyber schools offer a relaxed and beneficial alternative to traditional brick-and-mortar schooling, they pose threatening circumstances that could harm a student and our society in the long run. Cyber schools were first being introduced in the early 21 st -century. With the rise of technology taking over our country, online-based schools were opened to provide an outlet for students with special circumstances that traditional brick-and-mortar schools could not obtain to. Dropouts and children with health and mental illnesses are offered an opportunity to continue their education through modern advancements without having to return to their previous school. For teenage parents and adolescents forced to work to support their family, online schooling provides a way to juggle their busy lives without giving up the education they deserve. Each cyber charter student is presented with the necessary tools they will need to learn online, such as

2 Thompson 2 computers, printers, headsets, and textbooks, all without paying tuition. The students are then taught within programs, like used during conference calls for many companies, which allow them to listen and view lessons while virtually interacting within their classrooms. General education courses are taught based on the student s level and advanced placement courses are offered where they are needed. Cyber schools run just like traditional schools do, but are done so from each student and instructor s home. While the setup may be normal, the education and atmosphere tend to be harmful rather than helpful. When children first enter kindergarten, they begin what will become a thirteen-year long journey of earning an education. They expect to be taught how to read, write, and critically think, among many other important skills, in order to become a well-rounded individual in society. However, schooling is much more important than just learning the alphabet and being able to count. Receiving an education is also receiving life skills and traits that students will need as they grow and become adults in our world. Simple things like interaction in a classroom can help a student make friends, and eventually, interact within the work force or career field they choose. Attending school behind the glare of a computer screen will not help with socialization though. Our youth is given hands-on care and praise by attending school and while online students may also be applauded for their work, it is being done in a very different and unsatisfying way. While math may be learnt from afar, cyber students are missing the intercommunication that public, private, charter, and even home-schooled children are obtaining. There is something about a teacher looking their student in the eye and commending them that makes the hard work worth it. For some children, school provides the only outlet to a troubled home life and earning personal support from someone they hardly know can be very unsatisfying. The satisfaction is in the educator s body language as they smile broadly and pat

3 Thompson 3 their student on the back. Body language is important within education Social interaction of any kind is an essential part of life, especially as a child. Without it, children will lack important skills they will need to succeed throughout the rest of their lives. Along with lacking interpersonal interactions, cyber students are not experiencing extracurricular courses that aid them in becoming a well-rounded human being. Most online institutes do offer art, music, and physical education classes but without being taught in person, children are not finding the significance behind them. Trying to play music through a computer screen back to their teacher proves extremely difficult and in most circumstances, students can bluff their way through. The same holds true for physical education classes that are held online. Instructors are not there to blow a whistle and force students to jog a mile around a track. The children are entrusted to exercise on their own, but while they give their consent, it is just as easy for them to bluff their way through it. For my online P.E. classes, we were required to do some weekly exercising on our own and then report back to the teacher with what we had done, former cyber school student, Tyler Meshon explained. It would have been just as easy to have put in the hours without actually doing the work. While these classes were being held and students were being credited for staying active, there is no way in knowing if each student had actually done their homework or not. Without gym, music, or art, students are missing cultural information and ways to stay healthy throughout their lives. These classes are ones that just cannot be duplicated online. Through the many negatives of cyber schooling, the most alarming one comes from these institutions not meeting academically set standards. Even though cyber schools are based online, they are expected to instruct students in the same way traditional schools do. Certain curriculums must be met each year but according to the Annual Yearly Progress

4 Thompson 4 standards, not a single cyber school in Pennsylvania reached set goals (Mann). Each cyber charter school is allotted a certain budget per school year to accommodate for the number of students the institution has enrolled and if standards are not being met, it is not only harming the students, but the government as well. Charter schools, whether they are online or not, are paid for by the government and school districts and in , the smallest amount spent on a student was approximately $6,752 per year (PSBA). With that much money being shelved out from local school districts, cyber schools are expected to perform well above current levels. The cause may be coming from students independently completing their schooling without actually completing work. With even more access to unlimited information, it would be incredibly easy for a student to find answers or plagiarize their work without anyone ever acknowledging it (Anderson). Even though cheating might be happening, online schools are still not reaching standards. This evidence should cause people to rethink whether cyber schools are beneficial or not. Though cyber schooling proves to have negative sides to its way of educating, there are positives to it that traditional brick-and-mortar schools cannot offer. Over the past couple of years, many children across America have looked to cyber schooling as an outlet to bullying. Overall, while cyber schools offer different outlets and opportunities for students to obtain an education, they are not able to receive the well-rounded education they deserve. The lack of socialization and student-teacher interaction could cause a child to not give or receive important skills that they will need throughout their lifetime. Even though cultural courses are offered, students will never gain what they need from art and gym courses through their laptops. It is not fair for children to learn that way, but it is also not fair for online schools to take money from local school districts when their state standards are well below what they should be.

5 Thompson 5 Students are able to use their given resources in harmful ways and while online schools teach independency and offer a flexible schedule, they are not beneficial in the long run. So why does it matter if cyber schools become the next big thing in our world? Our society is becoming so technology savvy and as we grow, our education should grow too. If we took every part of our schooling online though, the effects would do us more harm than good. Our next generation would lack required skills to communicate with our world today and eventually, our world would begin to communicate entirely through the technology and the internet. Before we allow our world to become focused on the improvements in our nations and not how they would harm us, we have to stop online education before it is too late.