How Distance Education Helped My Favorite Student

As a teacher, I can attest to the value of distance education. For some students, it is not just a second chance to complete their high school education. This sort of education, which requires self-motivation on the student’s part, attracts many young people who felt stifled when they were in school.

I recently ran into one of my favorite students from a few years back. Let’s call him Billy. Now, I say that Billy was one of my favorites, but he was no teacher’s pet. He got into plenty of trouble in my class. However, I liked him because he was obviously bright and not at all a belligerent type. He was just not suited to sitting in a room all day listening to someone else talk. He had an engaging mind that needed more stimulation than slideshows and lectures could provide.

Billy also needed to understand why it was important for him to be there. A lot of kids do well in school simply because they are told to do so and they are obedient. There are many others that would do just as well, but they cannot see the point. No matter how hard you try to explain it to them, they will not understand why they need an education until they get out there and work. Unfortunately, our educational system is not well set up to deal with these types of kids.

Billy eventually dropped out of school the year after I had him in my class. It was not a dramatic flight. He just found a part-time job and turned eighteen. He had missed some credits in his early years of high school, so he was still looking at another year and he just could not go through with it.

I did not know this at the time. Like a lot of kids, he just disappeared from school and I did not think of him much until I saw him again. That was when he explained to me how he got his high school diploma online.

As he explained it to me, being out in the world working for a year had helped him see that he needed an education. He also learned a lot by working that he could not learn in school. I had always let him turn in late work. His boss had not been so forgiving. It turns out that leaving school was just what Billy needed to make him see the value of his school years. It also made him want to get a better job. That was why he turned to distance education.

By: Randshan Saldin

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Billy loved obtaining his high school diploma online. Picking his own classes and making his own schedule satisfied his desire to have a little more control over his education. It also allowed him to work and study. Instead, he felt relief at having a chance to stop and think after a hard day’s work.Distance education gave Billy a chance to love learning.