A Time for Technology

A lot of adults tell young teens that high school is going to be the best years of their lives; but I think I may have a suggestion or two to make it better. One of the most annoying things to me is wasted time. When I was in high school most of my classes were filled with a mixture of students on various levels of intelligence. Having the parents that I had, I was always encouraged to study hard and school wasn't really that much of a challenge for me. I found myself sitting and waiting in class while other students asked questions or caught up on work. I could have been doing so many other things; homework for other classes, my chores at home, painting my toenails. I would often wish that I could compound the amount of time I wasted in class and use it to get out of school early.

My suggestion for high schools now would be to offer online classes, or even hybrid classes with half face to face meetings and half online meetings. This way students get the same amount of work done and can each work at their own pace. Questions can be emailed, chat rooms established, and during face to face classes everyone can collaborate ideas and discuss the subject matter. Students will have more free time to work, or possibly sleep in later if they have trouble functioning early in the mornings. I think that if a freshman in college can take and succeed in an online class, what’s to say high school students can’t?

Of course I don’t think that high schools should be shifted completely to online classes. I really believe that students need the social interaction that comes with the high school experience. I also think that there should be some type of requirements for students to be eligible to take the online classes. Such as a certain grade point average, or possibly a prerequisite class teaching them how to best succeed in online classes; something like SAT prep. This way none of the students are left feeling overwhelmed by the new class arrangement. Also, students should only be allowed to take a certain amount of online classes a semester, maybe up to half. With this set up they’ll still be able to socialize, maintain school spirit, and participate in activities such as spirit week.

By allowing students to have the option of taking their classes online and at their convenience, the school systems would be allowing them to mature and take on more personal responsibilities. I would have loved to have this option when I was in high school. This way I wouldn’t have had to wake up so early and drag my mind through a 7:20am math class, or I could have just stayed at home and painted my toenails. :)