# Online education: pros and cons



## Doddy Guy (Jan 22, 2022)

Hello everyone
	

	
	
		
		

		
			




Due to pandemic restrictions online education is getting more and more popular nowadays but do you think that one day it will eventually replace classical education? I mean that children won't have to go to regular schools and will be able to get full education at home, distantly? Can that happen in the long run? Your opinion?


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## Doddy Guy (Jan 22, 2022)

My cousin has a child that recently did a year and a half online. In my opinion on the online option is good to have as a back up, or to a lesser degree. I don’t think it can 100% replace in person learning. I say that because the bar was just a little lower online, but more importantly that in person interaction which is extremely important was not there.


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## Rayd (Jan 22, 2022)

i personally think that online education played a huge part in me struggling very badly to be a functioning adult in society, socially and responsibility wise. i was transferred to an online program when developing both of those things were perhaps most important (high school). without that development i have bad anxiety when faced with anything adult related, which makes it difficult to handle things other people would consider everyday activities.

not only that, but since it's laughably easy to cheat in online courses, sure, you'll get your diploma, but not without learning hardly anything and probably suffering brain rot from said lack of learning. the courses themselves are way easier when compared to in-person ones, too. so even if you don't cheat, you're still not receiving the same standard of teaching.

it really isn't worth it in my opinion. back then i thought that my "education" was more important. i'd rip up my diploma right now if it meant i could go back and not make that decision. i could only imagine entire generations of people going through the same experience. i wouldn't wish it on them for anything.


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## TyraWadman (Jan 22, 2022)

On one hand you have what Rayd mentioned, on the other hand I would ideally love something that isn't in person, or if it was, to be more one on one. 

I can't deal with the overstimulation. If someone is having a bad day you're gonna see or hear about it in ways. People get bored and start tapping on their phones. Too many irritating things and distractions. 

I can't stand the extra fluff in between information. I like to skip through all of the annoying stammering and speaking habits and just get straight to the info that I need. So pre recorded lectures with online assistance would be great... But no such feature exists here. Or if it does, the qualify of the content/school is mediocre.


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## Lioedevon427 (Jan 22, 2022)

Nah I don’t think it’ll replace traditional education because being social is a big aspect of school, back in HS talking with my friends and art classes were the only things that made me want to go at all,
Plus it’s easier to teach, this semester for my life drawing class, my proff was allowed to set up on in person class and we got a lot more done in person than we did at home, but that’s a bit different than common core stuff because life drawing is visual


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## Yakamaru (Jan 22, 2022)

One of the issues with online education/tutoring are the difficulties with following up individual students.

Young people need that face to face interaction or they will end up socially, emotionally and possibly even intellectually stunted as adults and can very easily have severe long-term ramifications. It's during a stage in their lives where their development in various ways is extremely important, and if you hinder that development you will end up with people who are going to have problems in adulthood.


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## Fallowfox (Jan 23, 2022)

A surprising number of families do not have adequate internet access to support online education in the first place, so a significant con is inequality of access.


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## Doddy Guy (Jan 23, 2022)

Fallowfox said:


> A surprising number of families do not have adequate internet access to support online education in the first place, so a significant con is inequality of access. Also not all schools are using Proctoredu unfortunately so it is easy to cheat at exams and kids very often rely on that and don't want to study hard.


Agree but luckily this number of areas with poor signal is becoming smaller every single month/year.


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## Doddy Guy (Jan 23, 2022)

Yakamaru said:


> One of the issues with online education/tutoring are the difficulties with following up individual students.
> 
> Young people need that face to face interaction or they will end up socially, emotionally and possibly even intellectually stunted as adults and can very easily have severe long-term ramifications. It's during a stage in their lives where their development in various ways is extremely important, and if you hinder that development you will end up with people who are going to have problems in adulthood.


It would be really interesting to read some researches which would show the difference in development of kids with classical (offline) and online education in terms of their mental, physical, and social health.


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## BluefoxLongtail (Jan 23, 2022)

Online education is great for some students, but not for others. I went to a mostly virtual high school, in which we only attended actual school twice a week and never had actual "classes". It was more just sitting around in a common area doing whatever was assigned on the computer. It works and some students can succeed in it, but not all do. For that reason I don't think it will be replacing traditional school.

It may be integrated better, such as delivering curriculum digitally, but still having, at least weekly classes either in person or in other ways that promote paying attention, like a lockdown desktop. I feel like that would take the best of digital (time flexibility, less chance of bullying in school, etc.) and the best of in person (mandatory paying attention, actual learning, and teacher attention to students).

That being said, I came out of a hybrid system fairly decently, and most of my graduating class did fine. The majority of us got scholarships to universities, and were able to achieve the same thing we would at the normal high school in the district (save a few AP courses, but that's a district issue not a method one).

My experience and opinions of course are shaped to high school. It's worth noting that at the school I attended, middle schoolers had way more involved schedules, coming two days a week as well, but for longer than we did (4 vs 2 hours). Before high school, I believe we need more work to make online education viable from a social standpoint, and elementary school is the hardest to consider this for. Our elementary students were very heavily reliant on the physical infrastructure as opposed to the digital curriculum, as you can't teach penmanship or spelling effectively to elementary students on the internet.


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## ScaratheWolf (Jan 23, 2022)

Pro: you do it whenever you want

Con: you will legit have no social life


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## KD142000 (Jan 23, 2022)

I don't think it will replace classical education until 1. Every household has access to the internet and 2. Every student doesn't mind the cons of not being in classical education.

I do think it may get to a stage where it is a matter of personal choice and preference. But that would mean schools would have to change to accommodate this. There would be very little point having a school with...30+ classrooms if only 100 students (I guess with 20-ish students in each) actually choose the route of classical education. So schools would be smaller, perhaps made up of modular buildings that can be expanded or downsized when required.


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## Raever (Jan 23, 2022)

Well, it happened before the pandemic and will continue after - but generally most parents prefer to have their kids in a classic classroom setting to get a break from parenting for a bit. I don't think that online education will replacement classroom education on the mainstream side of things, but it will likely continue to be an option for homeschooling and the medically impaired; as it has been since the early 2000's. Something I do think would be mainstream in the next 10 - 20 years would be Sudbury schools. They provide a much more robust educational systems and provide children with hands-on ways to learn and grow into society over just giving them basic SAT's and saying good luck.



Spoiler: What is a Sudbury School


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## Fallowfox (Jan 23, 2022)

Aside: I remember aspects of online education being introduced when I at pre-University level. 

It was so irritating when the answer to a question was '1 metre per second', 
so you enter that into the answer box and it says 'incorrect; the answer is '1.0 metre per second' or 'one metre per second' or whatever highly-specific answer the system had been set up to accept.


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## Rimna (Jan 31, 2022)

Pros: It's online
Cons: It's education

In all seriousness, online education is bad for beginners and new learners. It's way too time-consuming for a group of people to all share their screen one at a time when they need help in real time. 

Maybe not everyone has the means to buy a decent microphone and headset, so communication can be bad. 

Maybe not everyone has access to internet or to a device that can support online education.

We still have a long way to go. But it's better than nothing


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## Baron Tredegar (Feb 2, 2022)

Pros: you can sleep in
Cons: many homeschool curriculums are created and run by religious extremists and nutcases
Source: experience


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## DoeDog (Feb 8, 2022)

I'm old, and I look at my wife's university students struggle, I can't even begin to understand how tough it is for children, it's better than nothing but I think it can't replace the real thing, I see students embarrassed because they have to share the space physically with other people or there's people yelling in the background, it kills their concentration or worse, the moron neighbor that decided to screw everyone around by remodeling the house. I mean the pros are there, not sharing toilet with people, being safe from the rona' and no commuting.


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## ben909 (Feb 10, 2022)

ayyan said:


> Pro - I can get up later
> Con - miss my fellows.


sums it up pretty  well


also saves driving time for me, and bus time for kids, but losing the fuel need for busses is not worth the impact on kids

i have one online class and one in person class this time, and i can tell its much easyer to focus in person for most that commented about it, also because snow made one day be online


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## Connor J. Coyote (Feb 12, 2022)

Doddy Guy said:


> Hello everyone
> 
> 
> 
> ...


For most people, probably not...... (for one): parents often times want their children out of the house once and a while when they can.... and (two): there's educational and social benefits that can be aquired through in-person learning that often times can't be replicated very well with remote learning.

Think: social skills learning, hearing diverse viewpoints you may not hear otherwise, exposure to "work like" employment "readiness skills" such as: coming in on time everyday, wearing proper attire, coming to class prepared (with the things you need), and following school / agency rules.

And so, for these reasons in person learning will continue to be with us probably..... unless one grows up in a home school environment by parental choice.


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## The Spirit Guardian (Mar 24, 2022)

Hmm....quite the topic here! Though I can say from experience that online education certainly was an...experience.


Though, I mainly feel it largely depends on the person, and how they tend to approach different matters and situations. For most folks, mainly regarding the youth populace, some would prefer being with their friends, and being in more engaging, physical interactions, usually in stark contrast to that of a more closed off, sheltered approach.

Though, there are some who prefer the tranquility of the comforts of one's home. I can't blame them, seeing as not everyone's approach in school would be the best. Some might consider themselves to be social outcasts, while others would be the more popular individual, depending on their personality, which can vary from youth to youth.

Ultimately, in terms of a more scholastic ideology, I am unable to define a clear line as to how that would rate among the current generation. In speaking for future references, I would say it might become likely that online schools would replace the physical ones, seeing as the generalized approach is more online oriented, which I can understand such a transition. 

In a more statistical viewpoint, I wouldn't really be able to calculate the guaranteed success of such online measures. Some would often try to distance themselves due to the inability of caring for education, so not all would function the their proper point behind a camera. I've seen such callous, blatantly obvious notions performed whilst I was present, and it is safe to say not everyone shares that same drive for proper educational benefit.

Physical schooling, while it may seem to be in the fine line of being rendered as obsolete, still holds cognitive function and benefit to a decent, acceptable standard. It's a rather daunting thought that often lingers, especially when thinking as to which would come out the reigning champion in terms of overall benefit and global impact.

Dear me, I'm beginning to ramble! Alright, I'll summarize.

I'd say more of an even split, since I'm currently lost for words in terms as to who would reign. Since we'd still have to take into fact that physical schooling is still a major part in the growth of the youthful community, it wouldn't be ideal to rule out it's longstanding ties with the totalitarian benefits in a more societal appeal. 

Alas, online schooling may be better, since the rules of physical schooling when it comes to sickness may not have the same applicable rules, therefore being more flexible in the way the methodology can be executed. Although, you would have to worry about that other half of the populace not really giving the same efforts as their colleagues....

Overall, I can't speak on it, since I'm torn due to good points on both sides. I suppose it shall remain to be seen then, and whatever the result, we'll hark upon.


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## Schrodinger'sMeerkat (Mar 25, 2022)

I can't find majors in what I am interested in. No one has a zoology or biology course that is 100% online.  It seems that online schools are mostly for people who want to peruse business majors.


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