As technology and digital devices improve, more and more schools have begun to utilize them by offering the option to take a class at home by way of online or video conferencing. This allows students to have an empty slot in their class schedule which results in students being able to come to school late or leave school early. Allowing students to take their classes by way of online or video conferencing would not be beneficial because students would be able to cheat more easily, it would be harder to communicate with teachers, and students would get more distracted in online classes than they would in school classes.

While the internet can provide long distance communication for a student to attend an online class, the internet can also provide the answers to assignments and work that the student may be assigned. If a student is allowed to take a class solely online, they will be inclined to cheat and look up answers. One counter argument that people have is that teachers have a way of seeing how many tabs are opened on the computer, but even if the teacher could see how many tabs were opened, the student could still use their phone or another digital device to look up answers. An online class would also make it easier to cheat because since the assignments would be all digital, students could utilize the copy and paste keys to look up answers quicker. If the student was taking the class at school instead, they could be given paper assignments and it would be harder for them to cheat. Online classes also make it easier for students to collaborate on assignments that they should be doing independently. Students could be using other students' help or they could be using previous students' work and it would be harder to identify.

Another reason why online classes would not be beneficial is because it would be harder to communicate with teachers. Some online classes may be taught by teachers who don't teach at the actual school the student attends. This makes it harder for students to ask them questions or ask for their help when they need it. This could cause students to not understand the topic completely and it might reflect in their grades. Online classes also make it harder for the student to build a relationship with the teacher. Because it is an online class, the student and the teacher don't really get to know each other and this could cause their relationship to be very weak. If the student was taking the in school class, they would have a stronger relationship with their teacher because the student would get to physically see and talk to the teacher every other day. The better the relationship between the teacher and the student is, the more likely it is for the student to go to the teacher and ask for help. Because the online teacher and student are not able to build a good relationship, the student might not ask questions to the teacher even if they don't understand the topic.

Another reason why online classes would not be beneficial is because students would be able to become distracted easier. Because the online class is done through video, teachers can not verify that there are no distractions present for the student. If the student was taking the class in school, the teacher would be able to see most distractions and could take them away. During an online class, the student could be able to use their phone away from the camera and the teacher would not know. This can cause the student to not pay attention to parts of the lesson and cause them to not understand as much as they might in an in school class. The student might have other distracting factors at home that would have been controlled at school like siblings or pets. At school you can produce a more focused environment than you could by taking an online class.

Online classes have some benefits, but have too many flaws to be beneficial to students. The flaws of cheating, lack of communication between teacher and student, and distractions make online classes an ineffective method of teaching. The system of online classes could be changed to try and make it more effective, but there are too many sacrifices made when you substitute in person teaching with online teaching.