Ever since the dawn of time, one thing has set man apart from all other life: its never ending thirst for knowledge. Man's quest for understanding has fueled them to form societies, discover the laws of the universe, and create spectacular inventions that were never even postulated in the past. In this revolutionary time of change and invention, some schools are introducing an idea that could push education forward into the future. This idea is to allow students to attend classes at home, by the way of online or video conferencing. This monumental idea would open up a multitude of opportunities and ultimately benefit the lives of students.

Allowing students to attend classes at home would help students financially. It is no surprise to anyone that college is expensive. In America, the number one reason students do not pursue college after high school is simply because they cannot afford it. Two reasons why the cost for college is so high is simply because of dorming and transport. It costs too much to live near, or on campus and it costs too much to take the bus every day. With the implementation of online classes, students would not have to pay an extra of one or two thousand dollars for living expenses and transportation. If universities were able to give students, who usually could not afford college, the opportunity to attend the class via the internet, it is almost guaranteed that the number of students pursuing college after high school would sky rocket.

The implementation of internet classes would also provide a back-up for students when facilities are shut down by natural disasters, global epidemics, rennovations, etc.. One example of this exact situation is the present fearmonger and epidemic, Coronavirus. At the time of this writing, over one hundred thousand people globally have been infected with the virus and over sixteen nations have cancelled all schools to prevent the spread of it. These students will be without education for an indefinite time; essentially they are given a pause on their education. However, in preparation for the epidemic, some schools (for example Generic_School) are taking the time to teach their teachers and professors how to run online classes. These schools are investing their resources in the proposed idea so that the students would not be without education for long periods. This shows how online classes can benefit students by safely providing education which could be applied later during natural disasters, global epidemics, and possibly during times of war.

However, the greatest fear most have with online classes is the lack of academic integrity: also blatantly known as cheating. They say that without direct teacher supervision, students would frequently use the internet to cheat on exams, quizzes, tests, etc. with no reprecaution. However, what they need to consider is that there are implementations already being tested, developed, and used today that combat this fear. In online testing programs like Horizon, Blackboard, and TestNav, there are already anti-cheating precautions that notify the teacher on:

a) plagiarism b) how long it took the student to complete the assignment c) if the student left the browser/tab during the assignment

Point A and B would stop the copying of answers from other students while Point C would motivate students to not look up answers via the Internet. The main argument here is that programs are already created and being improved upon, so as the future in online education moves forward, so will the ability to detect cheating.

Altogether, students would only benefit from the implementation of online classes. It would give more opportunities for students to go to college and allow students to safely learn from home during global crisises. With increased education, the students of tomorrow will discover new phenomenons and inventions that will only perpetuate the motion of our society for the better. So to think against online education is only trying to prevent the inevitable progression of our society towards the future.