Online Schooling

Detrimental to Children's Lifestyles?

Think back to a time when the importance of playing outside with your best buddy superseded playing on your computer for all hours of the night. Or recall a day where your cell phone was not attached to your fingertips at every waking moment; a time where kids could be kids. In the past couple years the popularity of playing with technology inside has beat out more traditional forms of play like running around outside. Society is constantly moving forward in technology with developing new ways to make aspects of your life more easy and accessible. One aspect that has really become prominent in recent years is the idea of online schooling. There has been a lot  of pressure put on our current education system to go completely online, eradicating traditional schools' values like a sense of community, face-to-face communication among students, and the powerful connection between teacher and student.

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No Play

It's a proven fact, children do not get enough exercise a day because they are too preoccupied with stimulating technology. Because more and more schools are transforming to online education systems, the amount of children who are obese has increased because it gives them another reason to stare at a computer screen for long hours of the day. According to journalists Daniel Castaldy and Linda Rice Collins, it is detrimental to the physical health of a child if they do not get enough outdoor activity a day. Traditional schools offer physical education classes and recess for students to get some type of physical activity. Whereas, online schools demand students to stay indoors where there is an Internet connection and sit on their bottom for hours at a time. Also, traditional schools have a scheduled time for lunch during the school day, which disallows students from snacking throughout the day. On the other hand, students who are online learners can decide what and when they want to eat. So who is to say that a whole bag of potato chips isn't as good as celery with peanut butter? Both the lack of exercise and inappropriate eating times that online schooling makes possible contributes to childhood obesity.

Poor Socialization

Experts Daniel Castaldy and Linda Rice Collins agree that the most important time for us as human beings to be socialized is during childhood. In order to be an active member in society, one needs to have functioning interpersonal communication skills. Having interpersonal communication skills means being able to have a conversation with someone by sending and receiving the information, and providing feedback on what the other person said. Another important aspect of interpersonal communication is being able to understand what exactly the other person is saying.  Traditional schools allow children to become socialized with their fellow peers by forming friendships, working with others on a project, and discussing material in class. Online schools are done individually which can provide students with a sense of loneliness and isolation. Face-to-face communication allows students to learn how to communicate effectively in society and adds to the long term success of the child. Plus, traditional schools give children an opportunity to interact with an adult, making them feel more confident about themselves, and eliminate anxiety over talking to authoritative figures.

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No Connection

There is a special connection between teacher and student that cannot be replaced by any technology. A computer or an online learning system cannot take the place of a person. If you don't understand something or have a question you can simply raise your hand, and ask the teacher a specific question. That is the beauty of having an instructor right in the classroom with you. Teachers develop different approaches to teaching material by compensating for different students' learning behaviors. Your computer is only as smart as the person using it, so if you do not understand an assignment fully, then how is your computer going to help you at all. A teacher is a more useful source because chances are they understand the material very well because they have been teaching a variety of students the same material, and probably have had students with questions that are similar to yours.