In-person School is Free of Confusion and Distractions

The ability to learn virtual has been a possibility for years as technology and personal computers specifically have become more common, yet school systems across America choose to continue the traditional way of teaching because in-person school is better for the well-being of all students.

Even as covid-19 spreads throughout the country the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention admits that it is important to get children back to in-person school. According to the CDC traditional in-person learning provides students better educational instructions, better development of social and emotional skills, a safe environment to learn, and offers nutritional and physical needs.

When learning virtually students can be at risk of losing some if not all of these advantages of in-person education. Even before covid-19 hit the school systems, there has been evidence that homeschooled students are slightly disadvantaged when it comes to social skills.

Most teenagers find themselves either procrastinating a certain class, getting distracted by friends, or the big obvious one, their cell phones. Even in school these issues occur however virtual school can only make them worse.

On average Americans touch their phones 2,716 times a day according to a study performed by research firm Dscout. There is no question teenagers use their phones more often and for longer periods of time than older generations, so why do virtual when you know you’ll be setting yourself up for an endless distraction.

Just simply having a cell phone in sight can actually harm an individual's ability to focus and work on other tasks, a study done by the McCombs School of Business concluded this.

Another con to having constant access to a cell phone is the inevitable cheating that will occur. Someone would have to be pretty naive to think virtual students do all of their work 100 percent based on the honor system. When students cheat it takes away the learning aspect of school.

When a student is simply answering questions just to get a good grade and pass they no longer are obtaining the valuable knowledge that their class is meant to teach.

When doing virtual school because of the health aspect people should understand that younger individuals such as high school students are significantly less likely to catch covid-19 let alone develop symptoms. “Based on current data, the rate of infection among younger school children, and from students to teachers, has been low, especially if proper precautions are followed,” the CDC said. The CDC has also admitted that extending school closures can be harmful to students and lead to severe learning loss.

Social interaction in school is simply unavoidable; however, students who learn from home can now finish an entire school year without speaking to a single classmate face to face. These drastic changes in social settings should be concerning to parents and educators.