I believe online schooling can help kids when it comes to grades but seriously interferes with developmental growth needed to succeed in their future careers.

When kids attend school in person there are many opportunities for classroom interactions such as school dances, sporting events, field trips, and most important group projects. Group projects reinforce collaboration, communication, and cooperation skills, which are important for character building. These experiences are essential and prepare students for their future careers in life. 

 According to KidsHealth, “Few of us act alone in the real world. Most things are done with the help or ideas of other people.”

Given the opportunity to interact with peers helps them realize life isn’t always great. If they are stuck inside doing school and not dealing with teen drama how will they learn to overcome it? 

An advantage of online schooling is students themselves can make a better schedule according to what fits them best. Some people are morning people and others focus better later in the day. Sometimes kids can focus more at home without other kids distracting them. 

I interviewed my brother Jayden, a third-grader who lives half with me and my grandmother and half the time with his mom, stepdad, and two younger brothers. 

 When I asked him, which home is easier for him to work at, he said ours because he doesn’t have two little brothers distracting him, and he can ask me, his older sister for help. I can understand what he means because I’m the older sister being distracted by him. 

 Online school turns a home into a school zone, which means it can turn a calm, relaxing safe haven into a focused, stressful, anxiety-ridden place.  

According to the author of homeschooling book ‘The Brave Learner: Finding Everyday Magic in Homeschool, Learning, and Life’ and owner of the online learning company ‘Brave Writer’, Julie Bogart, said that school is designed as an institution with desks, classrooms, blackboards, and teachers in the front of the room to create an environment that helps children cooperate with the agenda; Home is not like that.

Home is where we come to get relief from that, where we don’t have to perform and where we relax. Unfortunately, we didn’t make the choice of attending school online. 

The COVID-19 outbreak has affected all of our lives in one way or another. My friends and I used to meet in between classes, during lunch, and after school. Many of us spent weekends together at the beach. Now we can’t even see each other.  

The longer we are apart, the less we communicate and the more distant we become. Online school may have helped my grades but what will be the long-term effects on our mental health?