Many Public and private schools have advanced in many ways throughout the past decade. Schools all around the world have weaved technology advancements into the classroom and outside of the class room to help get students more actively involved in school related activities and lessons. Technology is a blessing and curse, which means it helps teachers teach but also in certain aspects it worsens the attention span of younger children. Diving deeper into this world-wide technology advancement that is happening, there is this one main question that gets asked quite a lot by administrators all around the world, "Would students work harder and better if they could attend classes from home virtually online or through video conferencing?" My full opinion to that is, no. Studies show that almost 97% of people work better in a room full of other peers, although the isolation and focus you may have at your own home is nice and relaxing, in order for a person to fully develop into a knowledgeable student they have to have, social skills, community awareness, and be able to understand eye-to-eye learning. You can truly only achieve these three skills if you attend school physically, not virtually, that is why students would not benefit at all through at home learning than they would at school.

In order for all students to successfully climb up the social ladder, they need to have one major trait that can help all peers make connections, bonds, and even relationships, this skill is called social skills. There was a study done at Workman State College where scientist studied students who stayed home for the whole school day and then studied students who actually went to school for the whole day. Both groups of students were learning the same material, the group at home got a video of their teacher explaining everything exactly the same as what she taught in class. Half of students at home did not talk to a single person the whole day that they were at home, meanwhile, the students at school had many conversations with other peers and teachers. Throughout the day, the students who stayed at home lost 10% of there overall social communication skills and did worse on a pop quiz about the information that was being taught by their teacher. This study exemplifies that if you were to stay at home and miss even just one day of school you would miss out on many social lessons like peer project and even just normal conversations that are experiences that can strengthen you socially for the future.

While being at school you do not just learn about how to solve for 'x' in mathematics or who won the Mexican-American War, students subconsciously grow and learn more about their community throughout grade school. There is this whole other community aspect of learning going on that most do not even notice. What is truly important about getting up in the morning and going to a gigantic building filled with hundreds of people is that it is filled with family, friends, neighbors, and even strangers. Meeting all of these people and learning new things about them can really strengthen the school-wide community connections. Advancements with technology also help us by letting students connect with other people in their community, but technology also doesnt help us if we are letting students attend classes online through video conferences. Doing so would cause a major lack of enthusiasm and relationships within a community. Going home independently and working on classwork without getting the chance to learn about your teacher or other classmates through this safe environment at school, causes a total downfall on community awareness.

Going to school everyday and seeing you teachers and classmates is a prime and simple example of eye-to-eye learning. Eye-to-eye learning is basically being with another person in real life, not over a screen, and actually talking and learning form them. Almost every kid remembers at least one first day of school memory when they were little or even this past year. Well, that connection you made with other students and your teacher was an official eye-to-eye connection made. Unlike looking at a screen four hours on end while being taught, having the physical opportunity to talk to your teacher either in a whole class discussion or one-on-one is much more effective than an email or text message. There was a study done by the Freelance College in North Dakota, many certified scientist studied the difference between learning through videos on a screen at home or being at school learning through a teacher. Both groups were taught the same thing and took a ten question test on the lesson that the teacher had taught. The statistics showed that students who stayed at home had a test average of 75%, while students who went to school had a test average of 97% The students who worked on the computer at home had a shorter attention span because their teacher was physically not at their house teaching them, thus caused the at home students to do poorly on the test. Overall, this study clearly shows that students learn exceptionally better with eye-to-eye discussion in real life at school. Being able to communicate with a teacher one-on-one or in a class discussion really makes a positive change in the students academic performance.

Although being at home is a quiet place to focus, in order for a student to fully develop into a successful person you have to have, social skills, community awareness, and be able to understand eye-to-eye learning. The way successors achieve these three skills easily is if you attend actual classes and school related events, students would not benefit anymore at home through virtual learning anymore than they do at school. Even though there are so many technology advancements, schools world-wide need to realize that many staying simple is better and that students must always attend classes in person in order to achieve greatness in the future