Is Online Schooling the Future for Youth? - By Marc Otero

Description: Some schools across the country have abandoned regular schooling in favor of online-based learning. Is this something that will make its way toward La Junta? Read a student perspective in this article by Marc Otero.

Is Online Schooling the Future for Youth?

By Marc Otero

Some schools across the country have abandoned regular schooling in favor of online-based learning. Is this something that will make its way toward La Junta? Online-based learning has become more prevalent as a consequence of COVID-19, during which time schools were forced to educate students completely or partially online through programs like Zoom, Webex, and Google Meets.

Online-based learning is an educational system in which teachers are only sometimes involved. Students sometimes learn everything from web pages and documents. Programs like Odyessyware show information through long documents and then test the student on the information.

La Junta High School principal Jennifer Foxhoven says that with complete online schooling, the social aspect would be missing. Having a balance between online education and in-person learning is the goal. La Junta Junior/Senior High School does offer online education to those who seek it. Some examples of online classes are foreign languages, statistics, macroeconomics, and credit recovery for failed classes. “It depends on individual students, case by case. Some thrive, some don’t… realizing it’s never an absolute answer.”

La Junta Junior/Senior High School already has a blended learning program through online classes that can be accessed through TTA (Tiger Trades Academy), or Shawna Frankmore (Academic Counselor) who can alter students' schedules as requested, adding or removing online classes.

When asked about the possible implementation of online-based learning, Amber Nelson (School Counselor) explained that if the state or district implemented mental health resources, hotlines, online resources, or in-person resources, “I’m all for online.” The most worrying thing to Nelson is the self-care of the students. The isolation is a worrying factor; children need that interaction with each other, says Nelson. When asked about possible negative effects, some thoughts came to her mind. 1) Isolation--Nelson worries that teens will isolate themselves and not socialize. 2) How would socializing be maintained? 3) How would students take care of themselves? Many students rely on school for most of their meals (nearly 1 in 5, claims the School Nutrition Association). 4) The last worrying thing is, when will kids go outside? Will they maintain their connection to the outdoors, or will they stay inside? 

Students of LJHS shared their opinions on the idea of online schooling. I asked Jadelyn Mendoza and Trinity Vasquez about their thoughts. When asked about the possibility of online schooling being a normal occurrence in education, Both girls agreed that online schooling might just be commonplace in a couple of years. It seems that students already have somewhat come to terms with online schooling and how it’s incorporated into their daily lives. LJHS has almost mastered the blend between online school work and traditional learning. In everyday classes, computers are used almost daily. Every teacher utilizes Google Classroom as a way to communicate with students, grade, and have students turn in assignments. Writing assignments are done in Google Docs, and math assignments are done in MathXL (a computer-based learning program focused on all areas of math).

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