Distance learning is a form of education that allows students to attend classes from home through either online or video conferencing. It is often argued against, because it limits face-to-face interactions between students and teachers, a method that is thought to be the most efficient. However, distance learning solves many of the shortcomings of traditional education, thus making it the more efficient learning style. Students would benefit from distance learning, because they would get to schedule classes on their own time, attend classes from anywhere, and make up work easily.

Distance learning provides students with one of the greatest gifts: time. With online lectures and video conference discussions, students are able to schedule schoolwork around their other activities. This would give them so much more time to focus on their extracirriculars. Many students are burdened with loads of both schoolwork and extracirriculars. Unfortunately, in an effort to be successful at both, they divide their attention and end up failing in both areas. However, due to the scheduling convenience of distance learning, this would no longer be a problem.

For example, if a student has a big soccer game on Thursday, he can put off his important lectures and classes until Friday. This would allow him to spend more time preparing for his soccer game and then allow him to dedicate full focus into his studies; thus, allowing him to be successful in both areas. Therefore, the scheduling benefit that comes with distance learning allows it to be a great advantage to students.

Another benefit of distance learning is the ease of accessability. Unlike in-school classes, which require you to be in the building by 9:15 every morning in order to get an education, distance learning would allow you to access your lectures and discussions from anywhere. This ranges from at home to at extracirriculars to vacations. For instance, if you miss the bus, and have no other means to get to school, you would miss an entire day's worth of education. However, with distance learning, missing the bus wouldn't be a problem, since you have access to all your day's work from home. In other examples, you could access your school work while away for sport's tournaments, academic competition, and even on vacations. Students who take extended vacations off of long weekends and breaks could use distance learning to their benefit, by scheduling lectures and discussions around these days or even accessing the information while on vacation. The advantageous aspect of distance learning that allows for easy accessability is evidence for why it should be used.

Distance learning also makes one of the biggest struggles for teachers and students much easier: make up work. After missing days of school due to sickness, vacations, or emergency travel, many students find themselves drowning in work that they have no idea how to complete due to missing class time. In order to get access to this information, students often have to rely on powerpoints or other students notes or else they have to schedule meetings with teachers before and after school. Distance learning would solve this problem by providing students with means to watch their recorded lectures or video conference with their teachers to make up work and eliminate the process of trying to figure out appropriate times to meet with teachers. This is something that would have been very beneficial to me last year when I had to unexpectedly travel to India for 14 days due to the passing of my grandmother. When I returned, I had so much work to do, and no way of understanding the new concepts I had missed. For example, in math I had no idea how to complete assignments and often made up the answers. Additionally, my teacher made me take 3 missing tests in one day due to noncoinciding meeting times. This negatively impacted my mathematical education, as I consistently failed tests for the rest of the year and even dropped down a math level for the next year. If I had distance learning, I could have caught up on lessons and concepts and scheduled exams to my benefit. Therefore, distance learning serves as a tool for students to efficiently make up work.

Distance learning is an effective way to allow students to achieve the most that they can. It accounts for extracirriculars and travelling and even implements a system for make up work that is far better than what the traditional system has in place. Although, proponents of the traditional system claim that distance learning cannot achieve the in-person teaching style that is currently in place, distance learning comes close with video-conferencing allowing for group discussion and face-to-face communication. Moreover, distance learning utilizes the latest technological advancements to help advance the education system. There's no telling what could happen with it in the future with new advancements. While it may not currently give an 'in-class' feeling, distance learning is the most efficient way of learning that matches this modern era of technology.