Did any of the schools you attended as a child offer distance learning? Would you be interested in participating in distance learning? Schools are now offering distance learning as an option for their students. Distance learning allows students to attend classes from home by way of online or video conferencing. Schools believe that there are benefits to distance learning, however there are various problems with the system of distance learning. Distance learning is not beneficial for students because it will not prepare them for the set up of college, they are not going to be able to interact or learn how to work with their peers, and they are more likely to get easily distracted when learning from home.

One way that distance learning would not be beneficial for students is because it will not prepare them for the set up of college. In almost all colleges, the classes offered are in large lecture halls where you are face to face with the teacher and other students, and not separated by a screen. By participating in distance learning students may not be prepared for face to face interaction with their teacher and the other students. For example, my brother, who is now a senior in college, participated in a system similar to distance learning while he was in school. After having participated in online and video conferencing classes for almost all of his school career, he had a much harder time adjusting to the college style of teaching than the other students, from his same high school, that did not participate in distance learning. Another way that distance learning would not help students prepare for the set up of college is that the students that participate in distance learning will have trouble adjusting to having to leave their house to attend class. In college classes are not offered inside of dorms and students will have to travel outside of their living area. If students do not practice taking classes outside of their home in high school they may feel uncomfortable learning in an unfamiliar environment and that could affect their learning abilities when they get to college.

Another downside to the distance learning system is that students would not have daily interaction or learn how to work with their peers. In school you meet many new people from around your town that may have very different cultural or ethnic backgrounds. If students were to participate in distance learning, although they would meet various other peers through activities like sports, clubs, or their hobbies, they would not meet as many people as they would if they were also in a classroom with twenty to thirty other kids. Because of this limited interaction with other kids their age, these students who participate in distance learning may not learn how to interact and collaborate with other students. For example, my brother had a difficult time making friends in college because he had little experience interacting with other children that he didn't already know and have a relationship with. He also struggled in group projects because he had not participated in one since elementary school, when he began distance learning. Not learning how to collaborate with others can be detrimental for a student because that will be a major part of their lives after they finish school. Whether they use the skill of interacting with other people in their future job, or even just to make to new friends after moving to a new town, the skill of interacting with others is very valuable and important to possess.

The final reason that distance learning is not beneficial to students is because it allows students to become more easily distracted. In a student's home they have access to toys and electronics such as phones, televisions, and computers that can take their attention away from learning. However if students took classes in a school building they would not have access to as many of these distracting things, and they would also have a teacher that would be able to take any distractions they find away from them. Another way that distance learning would allow students to become easily distracted is because their is no other students around to keep them on task. By taking their classes inside of a school building students would be surrounded by other students who are also doing work. Being surrounded by other students who are also doing their work will help motivate students to continue to focus on their own assignments. Personally, I prefer to do my homework at school, in my study hall period, as opposed to completing it at home. I would rather do my work at school because I am surrounded by other students that motivate me to finish my work, and also their is less distractions around me. One specific example of how doing my work in school benefits me is when I had to complete my history project on Andrew Jackson. Instead of working on my project during my study hall period, I decided to take a nap and told myself that I would be able to finish the project at home. However, when I got home, instead of working on my project, I was immediately distracted by the television and ended up watching a six episodes of one television show instead of finishing my project. When I received my grade back on the project I saw that I had received a C+ instead of my usual A. If I would have completed my project in study hall I would have been more focused on doing the project, due to the other students also working on assignments around me, and I would have received a better grade.

Distance learning is not beneficial to students because it does not prepare them for the set up of college, they would not be able to learn how to interact and collaborate with their peers, and they are more likely to be easily distracted when learning from home. Although distance learning may provide some benefits to learners who may struggle with learning in a classroom setting, it will ultimately affect them in a negative way in the future.