As we go through difficult times in our country, many students are required to do online classes because of the COVID pandemic. Many parents wonder if distance learning is better or worse than face-to-face learning for their children. There’s been a lot of discussion on the pros and cons of distance learning; many believe that distance learning is better while others think that face-to-face learning is better for kids. As there are many pros and cons with everything we do, online learning has its handful of pros and cons.

There are many good pros to distance learning for students. Adults feel that it allows students the opportunity to catch up on schoolwork if they were falling behind in the classrooms before. It also allows students to work at their own pace instead of moving at a teachers’ fast pace or slow pace. Some adults believe that their child doing distance learning teaches them how to manage their schoolwork time and study time along with learning other useful skills such as communication skills and leadership skills. You are able to learn these skills when doing online learning. They are very good for a student to have to become a more responsible student in the classroom.

Students feel that being in a home environment is less stressful than being in a school environment. Some also feel that they have less social pressure to deal with at home than they have at school. It may make the student feel more at ease with the social pressure from school gone. It may also keep the student away from any trouble they could’ve been in or any mental problems that could’ve occurred from negative social pressure.

Now as there are many pros to distance learning for students, there are just as many cons that come with distance learning. One of them being a major concern for doctors and parents which is social isolation. Many parents and doctors worry that the lack of social interaction for teens will make teens feel depressed, have poor quality sleep, or feel lonely. Those effects can take a toll on students’ mental health at times like these. Many teens need social interaction to grow as a person in life, and without any, it can do harm to their mental health. Another worry for parents and doctors is that the students that need one-on-one help are unable to receive it in distance learning and this can cause them to fall behind in their classes. One thing that comes with distance learning is that many teens need a high level of discipline; without it, students may have a hard time staying on their schoolwork and paying attention in class. Many are easily distracted, and being at home surrounded by many other things you can do besides schoolwork can cause them to not pay attention and procrastinate on schoolwork. The lack of a teacher’s presence and being outside a classroom makes it hard for teachers to properly keep kids on track during class time at home. Along with that, many students tend to lose interest more easily in distance learning than face-to-face learning. Many of these things can be very harmful to a students’ education later.

There are definitely more pros and cons to distance learning that a student may experience. Of course, all of these pros and cons may have not affected some students, or maybe they have. Each student is different from the next; many move at a different pace in their classes. Each and every one of us is unique. Some of these pros and cons you may have already experienced, or maybe you had an opposite experience with these pros and cons, or perhaps none of you experienced any of these pros and cons. You might never experience them and be doing perfectly fine in all your classes. It all just depends on you and your mindset for school. Stay motivated and focused on all your schoolwork and always do your best in school distance-learning or not.