Growing up, in elementary school, I never knew an enemy. Every single person I met instantly became my friend, whether they wanted to, or not. I craved attention and relished being surrounded by friends and family as often as they could tolerate me. School just happened to be my favorite place in the world because of this reason. I had a reputation of being the "teacher's pet", and my faithful friend group stuck by my side through thick and thin. I remember hearing about distance learning and despising the idea-- wondering who would ever willingly put themselves in a position to lose daily social interactions.

As I have matured, and become much more introverted, the prospect of attending classes at home sounds like something that I would enjoy. That being said, information motivates me, and while I have a sticky relationship with procrastination every now and then, I pride myself on my punctuality. The daunting responsibility of having to do everything by oneself is enough to repel a large majority of students. The ones who rely on teachers for everything, and who fear the persuasive powers of their own brains that convince them they could not handle it. However, there are aspects of these classes that appeal to a vast majority of students. The notion of distance learning, or online school, presents many favorable conditions for the self-motivated learner.

When I was younger, adults would rave about how mature I acted for my age. If my parents were busy with other adults, I had no trouble occupying myself, for I was always reading or completing my homework. I took a book with me any time we left the house, and it wasn't unusual for me to read the entire book in one sitting. Students with this type of self-control and motivation flourish while practicing distance learning. Depending on the age of the child in online school, this exposure to necessary responsibilities will help them establish a strong sense of motivation for personal projects later in life.

Additionally, distance learning allows the student to work at a somewhat individualized pace, disregarding assessments and strict due dates. This freedom promotes lower stress levels, because students are able to spend more or less time reviewing confusing topics, based on their needs. Not to mention, online school presents a myriad of personal research opportunities, so students are learning more about what they actually find interesting instead of information straight out of textbooks and lectures. By promoting the pursuit of education at one's own discretion, online school presents a greater number of opportunities to further develop information on a topic that would not otherwise be held within the teacher's curriculum.

Now, I will admit, I have not had the best relationship with online classes over the years. In my life, I have taken two online courses and not performed up to my full potential in either of them. While in the past, I have blamed it on my dislike for the course, I must also take responsibility for my lack of use of the resources that I had provided to me. If I had put in a small amount of extra effort, I believe that I would have performed more admirably. For online classes, you get out of them what you put into them. This is true for standard classes as well, but when there is no physical teacher, the challenge of learning is heightened.

Personally, I believe online school has great potential to grow as a normalized form of education. The possibilities are endless and the bank of knowledge is wide open. Allowing students to attend classes from home by way of online or video conferences is a system tailored to fit the ideal student-- one who is self-motivated and an independent thinker, but surely not limited to such. In the near future, I hope to see this concept grow into a universal option. I believe it will lead to the betterment of our society as more young adults are training their minds to think and act independently.