Have you or anyone you know ever missed school and had so much make up work that it felt like you or they couldn't breathe? Or maybe you are an extremely busy person and school leaves you exhausted? Distance learning could solve a lot of your problems. Distance learning is offered at some schools and is an option for students to take classes from home. It teaches students by a way of online or video conferencing. Distance learning is a controversial topic that leaves a lot of people with one question; Is distance learning as beneficial as classroom learning? The answer is yes.

Distance learning can allow students with special circumstances to still participate in school. For example; A student has become very sick and can no longer attend school. They miss weeks of schools and their make up work stacks up to a point of no return. They can no longer catch up because they have missed too much. If distance learning was an option, this student could do their work from home and stay on track with the class, instead of having to retake the entire class. A motivated student with a job and lots of extracurricular activities could become exhausted from their busy schedule. If they were able to take a few of their classes at home, it would give them a little bit of free time and take some stress of their shoulders.

Some people might say that distance learning is not as beneficial as classroom learning, however some students learn better at home, by themselves. I think a lot of students would prefer to learn at their own pace, in a safe and quiet environment. Consequently, classrooms would be less crowded. Therefore, students who learn better in a classroom setting, one-on-one, would benefit. Distance learning could also allow students to take summer classes, achieve all required credits, and graduate early. People graduate early for different reasons, but whatever their reason is, they can do it with a lot more ease.

Distance learning is cheaper than classroom learning. It doesn't waste paper, pencils, and one teacher could monitor many students. This means that there is not as much of a high demand for teachers because there would be less kids in classrooms. Some might say that there are more distractions at home but I just can't agree with that. In school, you have loud people messing around, rumors and gossip distracting people, and friends always trying to talk to each other. On the other hand, it is still crucial for students to attend school to develop communication and social skills. Although it may be a easier for students to cheat with distance learning, I think actions can be taken to prevent cheating of any kind.

Distance learning can shockingly increase the mental health of students. The adults doing the decision making on whether or not students should be aloud to take online classes don't know what school is like nowadays. My hope is that distance learning will be offered at all schools, at least for students with special circumstances. However, each student should be evaluated before being eligible to participate in this option, not all students are a good fit for online school. Distance learning has many pros and cons, but I think it still nets out positive and would be very beneficial when everything is taken into consideration.