Has there ever been a day where you have not learned? The answer to that question is no, not really. Learning is a process that everyone goes through, knowingly and unknowingly. It differs upon each individuals preference as to the way they learn. Schools offering the option of distance learning is beneficial to students as they can work at their own pace, they can work anywhere and anytime, and some students learn better when by themselves.

Allowing a student to understand the material at their own speed is imperative. Giving them this opportunity enables them to comprehend the content better. When in school, students tend to feel rushed when taking harder classes due to the faster pace. As a result, some students choose not to take challenging classes even when they can given a little more time. Two of my friends took AP Economics their freshman year in high school. Generic_Name took the course online and Generic_Name took it at school. The only difference was that Generic_Name had the entire year to finish the assignments whereas Generic_Name had to go by her teacher's deadlines. Generic_Name would sometimes complain about the fast pace or that she should not have taken the course. At the end of the year, they both had to take an AP exam, final assessment, and give a brief presentation on the major topics where they were asked a few application questions. Generic_Name had gotten a better score on both the exams. For the presentation, Generic_Name was not able to answer the application questions as she did not know how to apply the concepts she had learned. Given those circumstances, it was proven that Generic_Name did better as she understood the material better going at her own pace. She was able to convey the information more in dept than Generic_Name, making it apparent that the pace was the winning factor.

Students can finish work from anywhere and at anytime when given the option of distance learning. On some days, individuals just cannot focus on what they are learning. Attending classes from home allows one to give themselves a brain break and a chance to regain their focus, which cannot be done when in school as students are expected to attend class one after the other. Giving a break in between of learning content is important as it lets one understand the content better. Along with this some people have to take emergency trips to another country or simply cannot attend school for various reasons. The ability to take classes online resolves this issue as it enables one to still be able to learn the content regardless of being at school or not. Along with this, it prepares an individual for college as colleges have different timed classes and are not like traditional length high school classes. My sister took an online class over the course of a year for the first time her junior year in high school. It took her a little while to get used to as she was used to the traditional styled high school classes. her teacher would video conference with her at different times of day than a regular high school schedule. Once she graduated high school, she went to college and had a fairly new experience. She said that her experience with the online class prepared her well for college. It gave her exposure to the college styled classes and let her get the experience of learning the content on her own and then having the teacher help her with anything she wasn't sure about.

Many students prefer to work independently and find that they work better when alone. They are able to focus more and be more attentive. When in school, one is most likely to have friends in their classes or people that they can talk to and work with. Those people can cause distractions and take away from an individual's learning process and ability to comprehend the information. Attending classes at home allows one to complete their work without any distractions as one is working independently online or video conferencing with their teacher. Along with this, it allows an individual to have more attention by the teacher as there are far less people taking the class via video conference than people taking it in school. It enables one to get more one on one attention. In my AP physics class, I tend to get distracted as I talk with my friends that I have in that class. After when we are asked to do a problem for practice, I am only able to do half of it because I lose concentration resulting in the decrease of my ability to comprehend the information. When I am at home, I review the material on my own and work independently. Once I have reviewed, I am able to do that same problem again completely along with other problems. It's more effective to learn a topic when working alone.

Some may argue that a students ability to learn a concept can be slowed down due to technological issues. The weakness in that is students in school usually learn through the use of computers or smart boards and rarely through the use of whiteboards. When the internet goes down, either way students are deprived of their learning as there is almost nothing to do without it. When attending classes online, the time missed due to the technological issues can be made up with the use of an extra hour or so another day. However, that fix would not work when attending school as that is not allowed. Students attending school would miss that amount of information or get held behind by having to learn that information the next day rather than the new topic. When there are technological issues, there are very few efficient approaches to solve the issue at school.

Imagine having to cram for a unit test, study for three quizzes, and four other assignments in one night. Stress level being at about 10, getting no sleep, and drinking four cups of coffee just to stay awake. A nightmare with an easy solution being the option of distance learning with self pacing to finish courses over wide range of time with no stress and plenty of sleep. Calmly sitting at home attending classes is the way to go with better focus and no distractions.