Online Schools vs. In-Person Schools
Since Covid has affected a variety of aspects of life, especially in the way of education. In person schooling was the normality and expectation for students until Covid. Once students were able to go back, a lot chose not to. Studies have shown that remote schooling is more beneficial for some kids, but for others it's not ideal.
14% of all students have switched from in person to online schooling. Graduation completion rates for a popular online school, Connection Academy is 65.9%, compared to the rate for Mooresville Schools which is 96%, this is up against the state percentile of 86.4%.
Regardless of the percentile, the traditional school setting isn't for everyone. The sit-down setting doesn’t benefit everyone, and they didn’t have the opportunity to realize that for themselves until they were forced to slow down and widen their horizons, like every student. An example of someone who thrives in a remote learning setting is Sophomore Cali Dean.
“For me online school is a lot less stressful because the days are shorter and there’s less homework so i have more time during the day to get other things done and get a job without feeling overwhelmed,” Dean said.
The biggest downside of online schooling is students being socially not as involved as other kids their age. Former Mooresville student Liya Cochran always struggled with social advances until she recently rejoined public school.
“I think socially you’re better off with in person school because online has limited social interactions, especially if you’re more on the introverted side, online can become very lonely. The biggest pro of homeschool is the freedom, it’s very flexible, if you wanted to take a few days off you could easily catch up, it’s also easier to get ahead. The biggest con would be the difficulty of making friends, since you’re at home and not with friends everyday [like public school], it’s harder to make closer relationships,” Cochran said.
Some students gave in person school a chance and never went back. They found the thing that works for them and don’t want to change it. Someone that falls under this category is online Senior, Abi Paul. Abi has a 4.0 GPA and participates in educational extracurricular activities.
“I do think i do better in online school as I'm able to give myself more grace with my mental health. My teachers are very considerate of my depression, and they let me work past deadlines or exempt me when I'm in a depressive episode.” Paul said.
Online school can be severely helpful to those suffering from mental illness like Abi, it allows the student to focus on themselves and their grades on their own time at their own pace.
“Honestly i believe I’d have a higher GPA in person because my online school doesn't have AP classes on a 5.0 scale but beyond that I’ve always performed highly academically. The first semester of my Freshman year was in person and that's why I can confidently say my GPA wouldn't suffer,” Paul said.
As young adults, students' ideas and opinions change, and they thrive on different things at different points in life. Some students decide to stay online and end up missing the environment of being at a desk and learning the traditional way. There is no right or wrong way to learn, everyone's brains work at a different pace.
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| Photo by Suzanna Paul |
