Many people have to travel long distances to get to school, and to help them some school are beginning to offer distance learning, through the use of video conferencing, as an option for students to attend classes at home, which ultimately will not benefit the students, reminding society about the problem with solitary confinement.

Students go to school not just to learn the academic curriculum. In school students are forced to participate(if they are healthy) in physical activity. This is important because it helps to create a healthy lifestyle in each student. Students need to be physically healthy, so that they can develop in the right way. Without physical activity, the students can get health problems, both physically and mentally. School teaches kids how to stretch, work out, and all kinds of ways to be physically healthy so that the kids are able to do it on their own once they are older. Physically going to school not only teaches kids to be physically healthy, but also creates in them a sense of honor and discipline.

Schools around the world reward students for their academic honesty and punish them for dishonesty. This sets a moral standard in kids, by teaching them that cheating is wrong. The hard work along with full schedules forces students to develop a sense of discipline. By allowing kids to "go to school" through a video conference, kids are being robbed of these important principles. At home, there is nobody to make sure that they aren't cheating or wasting their time. At home, kids would be inclined to go play games, watch movies, or anything else they have access to at their house, kids wouldn't be able to focus on schoolwork and are inclined to waste time and cheat. Allowing kids to video conference from home, would do the opposite of what school tries to teach, kids would start to think that cheating and wasting their time is a normal thing to do.

School also helps students learn to build relationships with other people. By allowing students to take classes at home, students are being deprived of their time to develop key communication skills. Communication skills are very important in our society, as one cannot succeed in any field without some form of communication. Going to school and seeing other kids face to face is the way that kids can develop these skills. In school, they are forced to make relationships and are encouraged to be respectful and polite. Critics might point out that in a video conference, they can see others face to face. But the reality is, all the kids will see is just a face. They won't see the emotions the other kids have, the interests they might share, the fun they could have playing together. All the kids would see is just another face on another screen, it would mean nothing to them.

Allowing kids to stay home and video conference to school would deprive kids of so many things that a growing child should develop. This is the same problem with solitary confinement. Although inmates aren't growing anymore, they are still humans and still need to be able to socialize with others. They still need to be able to have relationships because humans are social creatures. Humans have become the apex predator on earth because of socializing. Inmates in solitary confinement go crazy because they don't have the social interaction that every human being craves. They also lose the idea of being polite and respectful to others (although most inmates in solitary confinement were respectful or polite to begin with). The importance of seeing people face to face is the biggest reason why allowing students to go to school via video conferencing is a bad idea and why allowing solitary confinement is a bad idea.