Recently, lot of school have been offering a new form of teaching where students can accessing classes from home. A big debate is whether or not attending classes at home is beneficial for the students. Students would not benefit from attending classes at home because there would be no in-person contact between the student and the teacher,students would have no motivation to log onto their online classes to do their work,and they would not have the competition of their classmates around them to push them to be more successful.

Having a student-teacher relationship is very important in learning. Generic_Name, a junior in high school, is taking a very hard chemistry class and is currently learning about balancing chemical equations in class. Generic_Name has read all of her chemistry notes, but is still struggling to understand the concept. Since she is learning this material in school, she is able to ask her teacher, Generic_Name, for help,and he is able to do hands on activities with her ,that she would not be able to do if the class was online, like writing example problems out on a white board and helping her through the steps to solve it. In another case, Generic_Name, a fifth grade student in elementary school, has been fighting with his siblings. Generic_Name does not feel comfortable talking to his parents about what have been going on, so he decides to go to his in-school guidance counselor, Generic_Name, who helps him find a solution to his problem. Max would not have a guidance counselor to turn to if he did online schooling. Another reason why taking classes at home is not beneficial is because it is hard to keep up with the work load.

Students who attend their classes online have a hard time finding the motivation to actually log on and preform the task given to them by their online teachers. Generic_Name,an amazing athlete who participates in soccer and basketball, has practice almost everyday for 4 hours. When Generic_Name comes home she is exhausted and wants to take a nap, but when she wakes up it is close to ten o'clock, and has to get ready for bed to give her body the proper rest to get up the next day then start practice all over again. With Generic_Name routine, she has no motivation to do her school work because she is always focused on her sports and does not have the energy to learn when she is not doing sports related activities. Another reason students may not be motivated to do their school work is because they have no one watching them to tell them to do their work. Generic_Name, a freshman in high school, has just enrolled in virtual classes. His mom works really hard day and night to pay the bills, so she is normally at work. Generic_Name stays home and plays video games all day and soon forgets about his virtual classes because theres no one there telling him to do the work, he eventually fails the class, and has to pay to take it again. Virtual classes also are hard to succeed in because students do not have the competition of their classmates around them to overcome.

Friendly competitions in school environments are a great way to push kids to do the best that they can at tasks given to them. For example, Generic_Name, a seventh grader in middle school, is taking a math quiz. The teacher, Generic_Name, told the class that the highest score would get a candy prize. Generic_Name studies very hard to get the candy prize;whereas, taking classes online, she would not have that desire to score her highest she would only try to pass the online quiz because she is not competing with anyone around her. Another situation where competition from classmates in school is needed, is when students are applying to college. Generic_Name, a graduating senior taking online schooling, is taking his SAT's. Generic_Name takes it and receives a 1150 and he is content because he is not aware of what other people score on that test, but if he attended school saw people scoring in the 1200's, he would push himself to get an even better score to improve his chances on getting into college. Therefore, taking classes in school benefits the students.

Although, some people may argue that taking virtual school at home is more beneficial for students, they are wrong. Learning in school is better for the students. Students would not benefit from attending online classes at home because there is no in person,student-teacher relationship, it would be hard for the students to find the motivation to go their online school work at home, and they would not have the competition that comes from classmates, while taking classes at home, to push them to do their best.