Has school destroyed your creativity and self-confidence? I'm working on a book called Recovering From School, to help you heal the damage caused. Join the Patreon or Newsletter to be notified about updates. Paid Patreon members will get early draft previews, as well as a free digital copy when it's done.

Myths about online schooling

Online high school students do less work: False. Just because online students typically finish their work faster, doesn't mean they do less work overall. They're just able to get it done quicker because they don't have to wait for the other students in the class who may be slowing everyone else down. They also don't have as many distractions, such as noisy classmates, or teachers yelling at other students.

Online high schools are expensive: It depends. Some are private schools, and can be expensive. But some are entirely state-sponsored and won't cost you anything at all. Some online charter schools might even provide you with a computer and internet access for free to help you out.

Online high school students don't get enough exercise: Many online schools have a physical education requirement as well, and in some cases students can take school sports programs with traditional high schools as well. That also doesn't take into account that online students typically have more free time because they can get their work done faster, and thus have more time to do exercise of their choosing.

Online credits can't be transferred to normal high schools: If the online school is accredited, the credits should be transferable regardless. Sometimes an online school has different graduation requirements than the regular high school, and this may cause the credits to not transfer properly - but this problem can occur when you try to transfer credits between two regular high schools as well.

Colleges don't accept online high school diplomas: Not true at all. However, colleges are more likely to accept a diploma if the school that handed it out is properly accredited. But as long as that's true, colleges should accept the diplomas just fine.

Online high school is for "troubled" teenagers: Some schools are specifically "designed" for "troubled" kids, but most don't particularly target anyone. This is a silly myth though, because it's not the teenagers that are "troubled" - it's the schools themselves. School just isn't designed to cater for every personality type that exists. So it's only natural that some people will prefer to skip all the crap and just get the work and studying over and done with on their own time.

Online classes are easier than normal classes: In some cases this may be true. But then some classes in normal schools are easier than others as well. So it's only normal that not all classes will be the same, depending on the school you're dealing with. The thing with online schools though, is that you can pick and choose schools and classes according to difficulty or any other criteria that matters to you.

Online students miss out on extracurricular activities: This can be true depending on the school. But some online schools organize trips and outings for their students as well. And quite frankly, people don't sign up for online schooling for the sake of the activities - they do it so that they can get all the high school work over and done with, WITHOUT all the "other activities" getting in the way. Online high school students get the class work done in their own time, so they can arrange their own "extracurricular" activities on their own, or with other people.

Online high school students aren't socialized enough: You know, it's a big world out there. Plenty of people to meet and see. With traditional high school, you see the same people every day, and you may or may not get along with them very well. But if you take classes online, you have more free time to spend with whoever you choose. You can even go out and meet people during school hours when most people will be stuck in a physical classroom. Oh and that's not even mentioning that most online schools have online communities where you can talk to other students and teachers online.

Online high schooling is just for teenagers: Not true. Many adults who didn't get high school diplomas earlier use online schools to get their diplomas because they don't want the hassle of actually attending classes. It's also convenient for if they already have jobs and have time restrictions. Some schools even have special programs specifically for adults. Of course, they could also just get a GED as well, but some people prefer a "proper" high school diploma.

Posted in: Resources on September 11, 2009 @ 8:12 AM

Tags: Alternatives, Online Schooling

If you like what we're doing here, you can become a Patron and sign up for our newsletter!