For years, students have gone to school in a typical classroom setting; however, an increase in technology has led to a rise in the amount of students opting to take online classes. The argument is whether these online classes are as beneficial to a student as a traditional classroom setting would be. I argue that online school is not as benefical to a student; instead, online classes can wind up being detramental to a students development and education. Online school is less beneficial to students education because there are more distractions at home than in a controlled classroom setting, students do not have as much human interaction, hindering character development, and students have limited resources which limits students knowledge and understanding of particualar topics.

Although some may argue that traditional classrooms are filled with distractions, home settings have even more distractions. Classrooms are controlled settings where students are assigned specific tasks for a particular amount of time. Teachers and administrators also try to limit distractions for students by placing strict learning policies, such as, no phones during instruction. In my IB Business Management class, my teacher, Generic_Name, disgussed the advantages and the disadvantages of working from home. One major disadvantage of working from home was the increased level of distrations, which led to an ultimate decrease in productivity amongst workers. If adults are not able to implement online working from home efficiently and effectively, how can students? Students need the rigid structure that a classroom provides. The classroom setting helps aid in developing proper work ethics that students can use in their future careers. In sum, online school could lead to a decrease in student productivity rates, which further emphasizes why online education is not beneficial to students.

Human interation is vital to student character development. Although some may argue that students could increase their level of human interaction through increasing their extra ciricular activities, collaborating with other students on an acidemic level is far more beneficial to students. Online schooling does not allow for students to think critically with one another. Instead, online schooling focuses on the thoughts of the student that is taking the class. This type of schooling could be detrimental to young students who grow up with this form of education. Online schooling does not allow for students to see other peoples viewpoints, it instead, teaches students that only their opinion matters; a mindset that is difficult to revert. Being singleminded in a workplace could make a person difficult to work with. Thus, decreasing the chances of maintaining a healthy job environment and relationship with co-workers. Furthermore, in a classroom setting, students interact with one another daily, teaching students the importance of communication while also building character.

Some like to argue that online school gives students more freedom to explore new topics, however, online school does not give students the same hands-on-experience that the students in the classroom may recieve. For example, if a student were to be taking an IB Chemistry course online, the student might only do simulation labs online instead of physically munipulating the chemicals in lab. Although simulations are a sufficient way to gain knowledge on a particular topic, hands-on training and experimentation, in the classroom, are far more effective ways for students to gain knowlegde and understanding of how different elements function. With online students not having the same resources that students in the classroom have access to, this puts the online learners at a disadvantage, which only furthers my argument that online school is less beneficial to students.

Eventhough online school has a few advantages, ultimatelty the disadvantages including: increased distractions, little character development, and limited growth in knowledge becasue of lack of resources, out weighs the positives. Traditional classroom style teaching allows students to learn and grow both acidemically and also in their character development, whereas online school hinders acidemic and character growth within students. These traits are part of the foundation that makes a person, so with online schoool limiting those traits, it cannot be as beneficial as traditional classroom teaching is.