"WWIII"

My heart pounded in my ears so loudly to the point where I could not hear what my theatre director, Generic_Name, said next. After telling the cast that all Generic_City schools would be closed on Monday for the teachers to better prepare for potentially having to teach students at a distance due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus, Generic_Name explained that there was a possibility we would sadly not be able to put on our spring play and the students might have to take online classes for a certain amount of time. In this day and age where technology dominates the world, a decent amount of schools worldwide are pushing for more online classes to be available. Students would not benefit from taking classes at home because there are many students who don't learn best through self-led classes and students would miss out on the classic interactive classroom experience.

As many teachers learn through their personal studies and time spent in the classroom, there are many different types of learning styles that must be catered to in order to set a foundation for a student's success, therefore, teachers must be physically present if a student needs help. I remember when I was a freshman and my history teacher decided to not physically teach the class anymore because a group of students were making fun of his teaching style. All of our classwork was posted online and we had to direct ourselves through our lessons. When it came test time, my normally prominant "A" became a "D" after completely failing the exam. I was affected by the fact that I didn't comprehend what I thought I had learned over that past month and felt like my time had been wasted. I didn't learn anything by "teaching myself" because my job as a student should be to learn, not to do both. My sister, Generic_Name, shared a memory with me from elementary school that also exemplifies this where her 6th grade teacher had the students guide themselves through an online math unit. When Generic_Name was a confused about a problem and tried to ask a question, the teacher said that the questions had to be limited, as it was a self-directed class. As an anxious 12 year old, this caused her not to do her best in school not only because the teacher wasn't allowed to answer her questions, but because she didn't digest what she learned through the technology. Elementary schoolers are not developed enough to take on directing themselves through their education. Frankly, elementary schoolers are not mature enough for that level of responsibility, and maturity is not something that can be taught online.

Not only can disciplinary actions not be monitored, but also the energy that a classroom brings can not be recreated virtually through technology; only through the good old-fashioned interactive environment. My friend, Generic_Name, is currently enrolled in two online courses: History and English. I once told her that I had won a lollipop while playing a fun Kahoot game in English. She told me how much she misses playing Kahoots with a group of people. Online classes are meant to be rigorous, but they leave no room for students to have a break. Generic_Name mentions that she can find review games online, but when a whole classroom isn't competing against each other for a piece of candy it simply does not match that level of excitement. Classes are meant to push students and challenge them, but what many adults forget is that teens are people too and sometimes need an enticement to make learning fun, like the review game I played in geosystems. These games can not be experienced the same way virtually as opposed to a classroom. In my U.S. History class this year, we have switched back and forth each unit between writing a DBQ essay and having a socratic seminar. I have found it more beneficial to do a socratic seminar because I love feeding off of what other people have to say about the challenging topics we discuss and I found that I learn more from my peers than from the research we have to do for our DBQ essays. The online classes do not have a socratic seminar option because there has to be other students present to perform one. Learning from others, especially one's peers, is something that carries into the real world through jobs, relationships, and even in electing government officials. Human interaction is fundamental to one's growth, and online classes do not cater to that.

While online classes do have their drawbacks, they also have their perks. Some say that online classes make it so that students can work around their own schedule. It is true that students can work at their own time and speed through online classes, but being physically in a classroom provides more structure to the curriculum through already built in time. A scenario that exemplifies this is earlier this year my Algebra 2 teacher told us that the only way we could review for our test was if we video called with her at 8pm the night before. It wasn't mandatory, but it was highly encouraged. Since I'm not the best at math I decided I would tune in, but that night was my sister's band concert and I missed the call. The online call did not work around my schedule and I did not get to review for my test. Online classes seem like the schedule is flexible, and granted a lot of times they are, but there are times like this where a later scheduled class conflicts with a student's personal life.

Technology is one of the most useful creations of our generation and having online classes is taking advantage of it in a positive way. But it is also causing many students to fail classes and affecting young people's lack of ability to have social interactions; online classes ony fuel the fire. With the recent outbreak of the Coronavirus it is unknown what the future holds for online teaching. What is known, however, is the more we allow technology to dominate our lives, the faster it will take over the world.