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E. Kansas | Just my opinions:
A little bit of continued determination and sincere desire to make online learning work, will go a long way in making it successful. That applies to the parent(s) as well as the teachers and the entire school system. Some are doing quite well with it. Some will want to fight it becoming a long term change as they may see it as a threat to their current bureaucracies.
We're only into it regarding the grade/high school levels now for a few weeks at most. Be reasonable and give it some time, and keep focused on the goal of making it work. That is, if you (school, teachers, parents) truly want it to work and want to be a part of the solution and not part of the problem.
How many years have traditional schools been conducted as they were, with all the separate grade levels and in the past several years with all the various specialized teachers, assistants, helpers, new teaching approaches, new buildings, new everything? And how much $$ paid in taxes to do all that, yet how many kids still fall short of standard skills in math, reading, etc. now and for years prior?
How many times in those years have schools changed their curriculum/programs at the federal, state, and local levels, and we've been told by them each time that is just what we need and it will fix the problems?
There have been a lot of kids who have been successful with traditional school learning, and all too many who haven't. Sometimes it is the attitude of the individual kid, both good and bad, but the ongoing participation/involvement of the parent in what is going on with their kid's education accounts for a lot of it too, both good and bad.
A lot can be learned online and accomplished online. We do all kinds of things now online that some years ago people said was impossible, because we'd always done it that way before and they were sure it couldn't change. But things have changed in spite of those gate-keepers' negative support. Sure, it changed how some jobs were/are done for many. But how many places now doing so much online are looking to quit all that and go back to everything having to be done in person? How many here have looked up something online, read/researched about it, or watched youtube, etc., to learn something new?
People need to realize there is an adjustment period for some with the online school learning, but many will accomplish it successfully. Availability of resources (internet/computers/etc) for those without can be provided, but it might take some time and those are problems right now but don't have to continue always being problems. There are probably some interim solutions for that. I'd much rather see tax $ spent for that in the name of education instead of building some new sports complex, other unnecessary new buildings, buying fleets of buses every few years, etc. There is a way to think all this through and very likely blend a significant amount of online learning with the kids meeting at school a couple days a week in smaller groups. No reason significant cost savings for a school system cannot be a main goal in all of this, and still provide a good education.
Think outside of the box (the school walls) and don't just throw in the towel at the first sign of difficulty or challenge.
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Schools Shut Down
