Schools today are not what they used to be. In the past, schools were built to accommodate the needs of the children they taught, but in recent times this is not the case. As children have adapted to their surroundings, the average school has largely been unable to catch up. Some propose an alternative. Recently, schools around the country have begun to offer distance learning options, mostly in the form of online classes or video conferencing. This form of education permits both students and teachers remarkable flexibility in an age when schools aren't structured to serve their students, and this is done all while better preparing students for the modern job market and lightening the burden of overcrowding in schools. Students would benefit from a distance learning option because it would allow students to learn on their own schedule, adequately prepare students for the job market of today, and decrease overcrowding in schools.

Students today are more stressed out than ever before. Many students balance school, homework, college applications, a job, clubs, extracurriculars, and their social lives very poorly. A distance learning option would provide a healthier balance. For instance, students could get more sleep if not made to adhere to a rigid morning arrival time. Students could listen to lectures in the car, or on a bus, or at the gym. They wouldn't be restricted to learning in 7 hour chunks, 5 days a week. When learning in an area that is not separate from the world they see around them, students can much more easily apply concepts to things in their lives, allowing for a better,

realer educational experience. A distance learning option would vastly decrease student stress by allowing them to learn within their own timetable.

A distance learning option would better prepare students for the 21st century workplace. If school is meant to prepare students for the workplace as we are so often told, than why not let it reflect the modern day workplace? When public school students were largely being prepared to work in factories and mines, maybe this system of bells and rigid schedules made sense, but the modern American student is not being prepared to work in either of these places. The job market now is increasingly more reliant on technology and remote work, and this trend is likely to continue. To work in this sort of environment, students need to learn self-discipline in order to complete tasks. Students today should be able to practice this mode of self discipline by working remotely just as they are likely to do in the future. If as an adult a student will not be corralled into a single building with a rigid schedule, why should schools be like this? While the workers of today still have a boss, it is no longer the overseer threatening to cut your wages if the sleeve of your shirt gets caught in the industrial loom. The structure of schools should reflect this. Students should become more autonomous from their teachers as they get older. It is inappropriate for a 17 year old student to have to ask to use the restroom, a practice better reflected in the factory system of the Gilded Age than by the workplace of today and of tomorrow. Distance learning would better prepare students for the jobs they are likely to do by teaching self-discipline and a less authoritarian means of management.

Many schools today are grappling with the threats posed by overcrowding. Increasing class sizes, crowded hallways, and impersonal student-teacher interactions are just some of the pressures placed on overcrowded schools. Schools must provide more space, more food, and more teachers, sometimes while not being supported by the federal or municipal governments. School officials today feel stretched thin and burnt out having to divvy out their resources and energy to an ever-growing number of students. It is harder and harder to control students, as they feel disconnected from a teacher who has to spread out their attention between hundreds and hundreds of students. If a distance learning option was implemented, these problems could easily be mitigated. Class sizes would decrease, students would have more space, and schools would not be responsible for as many meals as they are today. A distance learning option would decrease overcrowding, allowing schools to better distribute resources, time, and energy.

Education is at a crossroads right now. The choice is clear; a better adjusted, healthier, happier, more prepared workforce, or an entire generation ill fitted to apply their skills to the modern job market. Distance learning is an innovative and appropriate way to create the former. Students would benefit from a distance learning option because it would allow students to learn on their own schedule, adequately prepare students for the job market of today, and decrease overcrowding in schools. 