Blog Post #13

My Teacher is An App
The article starts off talking describing how this kid that is enrolled in online school navigates his day of learning outside of a traditional school learning. The article gives examples of different states utilizing online learning services for various reasons. One advantage of online schooling that was expressed in one account was that it allows the individual to excel in more advanced levels then that in a classroom of 20 some students where they all are taught the same material at the same pace at the same time. Another advantage is statistics have shown that tax dollars that go toward traditional schools can be cut in half using online services because it cuts out salaries and other materials that contribute to budget problems that are currently at hand. Standardized testing results have shown to go down with students that are in online schools. Another concern that goes along with that is that students miss out on social interaction skills that they would gain by going to a school with other kids.

My biggest thing that I thought of after reading this article is why can't anyone make a compromise between two things for the better good? Obviously there is some good that comes from online classes. It offers kids with gifted abilities in areas to excel to a higher level and it allows teachers to be able to concentrate with the students instead of grading and lesson plans because the program already takes care of those things for them. I think it's also important that kids get the social interaction with other kids for developing social skills for their professional future. I just don't think you can completely eliminate public school systems and the teachers that are in there. I'm not looking at it strictly from an educational standpoint either but from an economical one as well. If you take jobs away to help out with a budget then you are not solving a problem but essentially disguising it in a different form. You have to be willing to implement a hybrid style of program in order to move ahead. If we can do it with cars then we can do it with education.