Many students have had the ability to get a quality education, without a classroom. Modern day technology has provided a way to bring the classroom into the home, this is called distance learning.

Distance learning should be an option for students because it could bring education to all, it would save students time, and it allows students to take their future outside of a classroom. In order to understand why distance learning should be an option, let's look at the day of one the students in my high school.

Generic_Name wakes up every day at six in the morning to do chores, then to get ready for school. By seven in the morning he is already on his way towards our high school. He has to get there early in order to receive help from his homework he was working on last night. By the time school starts he is already three hours into his day. Once his seven hour school is over he has to drive another forty minutes home, just to do more chores, and to start on his homework for the following day. Generic_Name has to drive a pick up truck because of the area he lives in, which means that his gas mileage is pretty low. He has to get a new tank of gas every three days or so. It costs him forty dollars to fill up his tank. With his long commute to school, he doesn't have time to get a part time job to pay for his gas himself, instead his parents have to pay around eighty dollars a week just so he can go to school. Distance learning would solve many of these problems that Generic_Name is going through. It would allow Generic_Name to get an education even though he lives a great distance from the school. With modern day technology we have the ability to Skype, face time, or even video conference into classrooms in order to provide everyone with a fair and equal opportunity to get an education. Distance learning would help to provide the right of education to everyone.

Just because we have a right to education does not mean that getting an education is going to be easy. Most high school students today are known to be stressed out, mentally ill, and overworked. In Generic_Name situation he has to help his mother with his little siblings, cut fire wood, and make breakfast before he even starts to think about the math equations he couldn't figure out the night before. Generic_Name, like many other students, is over worked, and stressed out. He has a lot of responsibilities that he has to uphold. Taking away the drive, and taking away the financial burden would save Generic_Name a lot of time. He may be able to get a part time job in order to help his mother pay some bills, or even start to save money for college, or even just to get work experience. Distance learning would solve a lot of problems in his life, because high school isn't always a great place for students.

High school provides a lot of teenagers the ability to grow. It makes a lot of students think about the people around them, it forces teenagers to meet and work with people that are different than them. However, high school isn't always a good use of your time and energy. Being on the JV football team is not going to prepare you to take responsibility for your future career and family. It could be a distraction from what is really important in life. Distance learning would provide the students that see through the facade of the "high school experience" to cut the chase. Get to the final goal of high school, and moving onto the next stage in life. High school experiences only last for a moment, but your education lasts a life time.

Distance learning should be an option for students because it could bring education to all, it would save students time, and it allows students to take their future outside of a classroom. The ability to use technology in order to help those in need is not something that we should overlook or take for granted. We constantly should be looking for ways to help teenagers become more successful in their future. 