Virtual High School - Page 2

Random_0

United States1163 Posts

February 21 2013 08:08 GMT

#21

On February 21 2013 16:51 iamahydralisk wrote:
I did all my high school completely online. I ended up with severely stunted social skills and I've had to do a lot of catching up in college.

Why do you say that you have "severely stunted" social skills?

Tobberoth

Sweden6375 Posts

February 21 2013 08:52 GMT

#22

Sounds like a ridiculously bad idea, social interaction is an extremely important aspect of high school. Hell, most of my friends today are friends from high school, or friends I met through high school friends. The risk of becoming a pathetic akward recluse must be huge if you don't go to a proper high school, unless you already have strong social skills.

Callynn

Netherlands917 Posts

February 21 2013 12:15 GMT

#23

If we did all courses online from baby to adult - the chances of making (real) friends and perhaps the chance of meeting the love of your life is reduced by a ton. I've been bullied for 4 years, but the other 3 years were totally worth it. I met my wife and I made a ton of real friends.

That being said, I think virtual school should be integrated with a social workplace where children can learn their social skills (work in groups, in hierarchies and making friends (and enemies)).

GERMasta

Germany212 Posts

February 21 2013 14:02 GMT

#24

The whole socialization argument is bollocks. Studies have been conducted in the environment of home-schooling and the vast majority of kids turned out completely fine, a lot of them even better than average. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeschooling#Socialization

EDIT: Better and more thorough summary on socialization can be found here: http://www.homeschoolresourcecenter.net/article_homeschooled_kids__but_what_about_socialization.htm

EDIT2: Having read a lot of the posts, most of the arguments seem to be based on the inverse fallacy:
If you go to school, you find friends/lovers/valuable life lessons etc.
You don't go to school.
Therefore you cannot find friends/lovers/valuable life lessons.
And as a corollary: Therefore you will remain forever socially awkward. That's just wrong.

Capped

United Kingdom7236 Posts

February 21 2013 14:17 GMT

#25

All i got from this is "I hate people, society and everything that isnt on my computer / the internet and want to live as a hermit"

Really, you need to get used to the world and enjoy it, there is more to life then your desktop display.

HeeroFX

United States2704 Posts

February 21 2013 16:27 GMT

#26

On February 21 2013 12:52 ktimekiller wrote:
High School is all about socializing and learning to deal with a mini society that is presented to you physically in the form of peers and superiors and respective responsibilities.

Some of this cannot be learned online where you can simply dick off all you want.

Its true like it sucks going to school but you could meet your best friends for life there for all you know. +its good to interact with real people because if you need recomendations for college or something they can help.

QuanticHawk

United States32130 Posts

February 21 2013 16:38 GMT

#27

Most college people aren't mature and motivated enough to take online courses seriously. 14-17 year olds are gonna be 10x worse. No way i'd let my kid do that.

plus, I really agree with this

like most, I didn't care much for high school, but you learn so much about social interaction that you really can't put a value on it. You meet people, are forced out of your comfort zone, learn that people—students and teachers—will be fucking idiots and you're forced to deal with them just like a boss in real life, etc etc.

HappyMen

4 Posts

February 21 2013 16:47 GMT

#28

On February 21 2013 13:17 docvoc wrote:
Yeah, you sound like my dad. I'll be honest with you, being a (psuedo-)intellectual in highschool with no social skills won't get you anywhere. That is the ultimate downfall of FLVS, you lose all that social awkwardness that you learn from. I'll be honest, NO one is born a social butterfly, everyone who seems that way emerged from awkwardity at a certain point in time. The way you sound, you just sound like an introverted nerd, but you have to be honest and say that you enjoy spending time with other people doing certain things. That may not be parties, but it sure as hell is about shmoozing. I'm serious here, everything you learn is worthless without the social skills to implement it. It doesn't matter how good you are at coding if no one wants to hire you because you can't do a job interview without falling on your face. Highschool might suck sometimes, but you learn valuable lessons that no one holds against you later in life, like the social exploration and mistake you make in there.

Give him some credit. He said he didn't like cliquey douchebags, not he was too nervous to talk to anyone. Social skills are not difficult at all if you actually want to be a confident communicator. You just do.

and like he said, I'd rather socialize in an extra curricular context (I.E: with the extra time, basketball? Music? A LAN event even?), than in a school environment.

I've been to dozens of different, terrible schools from EBD To Autism ones, and I still have a girlfriend and I consider myself a rapidly improving and confident individual. I made NONE of my current friends in school, and that doesn't matter. Though it has been a lot harder, if you really don't care about that, it doesn't matter.

In fact, the shitty schools I've had to go to in the past have done nothing but make my old social awkwardness far worse. Since I've left those schools and been at home, and now at college, my social skills have improved greatly among the people I do meet in better environments.

QuanticHawk

United States32130 Posts

February 21 2013 16:59 GMT

#29

it's not about whether or not you made friends there, but that a real physical high school is ultimatley an essential learning place for the social skills you learn later in life. mcuh like a relationship, even if your experience is fucking miserable, there is always some kind of take away you can apply later on in life.

HappyMen

4 Posts

February 21 2013 17:52 GMT

#30

Yeah, but there'll always be opportunities to learn in life. Though, it may be best to do it in highschool if you don't have the same financial or social responsibilities you do later in life, it may also not be necessary to give yourself a miserable time in your adolescence either.

QuanticHawk

United States32130 Posts

February 21 2013 18:53 GMT

#31

well yeah there will always be opportunties. my point is that if you don't get all of that shit out of the way at 14-17, it's gonna take place in college. even though 4 year schools are much more academically friendly, there is no shortage of assholes there

BADBADNOTGOOD

England57 Posts

February 21 2013 20:01 GMT

#32

Most of school is about learning to sit still/focus, follow a schedule, getting used to a situation where you switch from different tasks/subjects/skills and learning adaptability, learning to follow instructions/guidance, getting used to doing things you don't want to. There's more to school than academic studies and social aspects.

My 2 cents, don't drop out of school just because you don't enjoy it. Only drop out if you can 100% guarantee you can do something more productive. It takes a lot of experience to know when to do 'endure' and when to 'quit', do you trust yourself enough to make that decision?

Either way, good luck

LeafMeAlone

United States301 Posts

February 21 2013 20:01 GMT

#33

Re-reading, I don't think social issues are the biggest problem here. I think the biggest problem is that he will probably suffer in the school itself (classes). If you can't even do your homework in regular school, how will you be able to do homework when you're at home on the computer all day? What's stopping him from staying in the suspended escape mindset 24/7? Myself (and plenty others I'm sure) quickly lose track of time when surfing the internet, playing games, or whatnot.

Frostfire

United States419 Posts

February 21 2013 20:24 GMT

#34

The thing is, my dad works at a small company that makes programs to write wills for lawyers. My dad's office consists of 6 people in the 30-40 age range, that all are HUGE computer nerds like myself. I was thinking that if I were to do this, I could just go to work with my dad and do my schooling there, possibly work there part-time while doing my schoolwork, and I could learn a lot about coding and such from the people who work there. I have people to hangout with after school, finding friends and things is not an issue. My best friend since I was born lives 2 blocks from me, he and I hangout all the time. I dislike large crowds of people that are cliquey and judge others just because they are different. I don't like feeling like an elitist, but I feel as though I get a long a lot more with older people that are interested in the same things as me.

I went to a few LANs a while ago with a bunch of college kids who's team I'm on (iP, recently acquired by SCA), and I had a hell of a time. We talked about all sorts of things, not just the game, or even things to do on the computer. I enjoy being able to have a structured conversation with people instead of just having everything anyone says being followed by a "that's what she said" 7 hours a day every day.

For me, internet schooling I think would still have structure as I would go to my dads work for the hours that he works, possibly make money doing things for them, like sending e-mails or whatever (there are many small openings as they are severely understaffed but can't afford another full time employee, and my dad is a high-up person). Hanging out with people is not an issue as I have many people who live near me that do FLVS, and my best friends who still goes to highschool, but I hangout with at least once a week.

The main thing that I'm taking from these comments is that I need to be able to learn how to learn. I need to be able to learn in an environment where I can't just dick off and do whatever I want, because that's how the world works. I need to be able to deal with that one shitty boss that everyone has, and the stupid coworkers that everyone complains about the second they get home. Going through the things you don't like helps you be able to cope with them later in life, where something like FLVS will not be an available cop out. I really enjoy everyone's opinion that has commented on this, and I would love to hear more responses. You guys have given me a lot to think about and talk about with my father.

14fighter

United States226 Posts

February 22 2013 03:20 GMT

#35

On February 21 2013 23:02 Sauwelios wrote:
The whole socialization argument is bollocks. Studies have been conducted in the environment of home-schooling and the vast majority of kids turned out completely fine, a lot of them even better than average. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeschooling#Socialization

EDIT: Better and more thorough summary on socialization can be found here: http://www.homeschoolresourcecenter.net/article_homeschooled_kids__but_what_about_socialization.htm

EDIT2: Having read a lot of the posts, most of the arguments seem to be based on the inverse fallacy:
If you go to school, you find friends/lovers/valuable life lessons etc.
You don't go to school.
Therefore you cannot find friends/lovers/valuable life lessons.
And as a corollary: Therefore you will remain forever socially awkward. That's just wrong.

Home schooling is different from Cyber schools. Cyber schools from what I've heard and been told, suck and are generally there just to make money off a cheap product.

Random_0

United States1163 Posts

February 22 2013 03:47 GMT

#36

This is a horrible and possibly dangerous argument. In homeschooling, the parent decides to spend a tremendous amount of effort and attention on the child. It is unsurprising that children who receive this love and attention do well socially.

An online high school, by contrast, is a choice made by the student to cut off much of the social interaction of high school.

I can't believe that the results of homeschooling and online high school would be equivalent.

CHiPZ

Liechtenstein38 Posts

February 22 2013 06:01 GMT

#37

Man so many of you are trying to analyse this guy and his hobbies, let him be.
However you need to learn how to talk to people, so if you can manage that during virtual school go ahead.
If not, everyone else does regular school so just do that.
Simple.

iamahydralisk

United States813 Posts

March 24 2013 00:09 GMT

#38

On February 21 2013 17:08 Random_0 wrote:

Show nested quote +

Why do you say that you have "severely stunted" social skills?

Just remembered this post which is why it took me like a month to reply lol. Had, not have. I'm a lot better about it now. However, I did have a lot of social trouble in my freshman year because I spent the entire four years of my high school pretty much locked in my house without much social contact. The thing you gotta realize about socializing is that it's like a muscle; if you don't use it, you lose it.

MaestroSC

United States2073 Posts

March 24 2013 02:12 GMT

#39

homeschooling already exists, dont see how this is much different, except it gaurentees you will have more computer skills than the average high schooler. Also will prepare you more for college which is more independent and usually more technologically sophisticated.

If you can do this AND have friends outside your house, or enjoy any physical extracurricular activities.. dont see how this could possibly be worse.

ProV1

United States980 Posts

March 24 2013 02:42 GMT

#40

If you go to online school and spend time only with guys in real life, when are you going to ever get laid? Just think about how you are going to spend your entire youth masturbating, and then come to be to the realization that this is pretty sad.

Youth doesn't last forever, and it's best to use your youth to go around getting life experiences and have fun. If not in high school, then in college. Your left hand will always be with you forever, and may be a great companion when your wife decides to be celibate, but now is not the time to call on your right hand. Right now is the time to go out into the real world and satisfy all those hotties desperately waiting to have their fantasies fulfilled by an awesome TLer.

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