I’m originally from Oregon, but I wasn’t in public school for long. Online schooling has changed the way I view public schooling. 

I was originally in public high school in Oregon, but it didn’t last due to the events that happened in 2019.

Since February of 2019, I have been in online school. 

How is it different from public school?

One difference was the education. The education they provide is the same as any school in Oregon since it was common core sourced. It was not a good education source, common core or not. They blocked any outside source of information and you could not read certain articles or websites. They did have some good electives, like art which is what I participated in. I did independent study with the teacher, she was quite nice and focused on the task at hand.

Next was that it was very social. Even though it was a computer based school, they made sure people of any sex, race, religion, disabilities and beliefs were validated among the students and teachers. The students would interact with each other, but unfortunately I couldn’t make friends with other students, as they belittled me for different views and beliefs. Then the educators would belittle me for having different opinions from different education sources.

There was also a difference in views of politics. Even though it was not a political based school, they had no trouble expressing their views on politics. Even the teachers were eventually paid to speak of the events that took place this past year. 

The main subject in every class, whether it was Geometry or Geography, was climate change. They even formed a club for teenagers to participate in putting a stop to climate change. Another main subject for classes like Geography, History and Literature was refugees, illegal immigrants and race issues. I noticed that a lot of the students looked down on themselves because of their race and many in the chat would apologize for being white or say they feel ashamed of it. They were big vegan lovers too, a few students trying to convince the others that veganism is the way to go.

Another big issue was bullying. Bullying was not tolerated towards certain individuals, except if you had different views. My Earth & Space Science teacher, when confronted with the flaws she had performed, would show disparage and give me a lower grade than the other students.

 I can recall a time when we learned about geology, to demonstrate different rock types and their durability, she smashed Crayola Crayons with a hammer on video. I told her that is not a sufficient way of showing different rocks types and their durability, she in return gave me an F. during Geology. A student asked if gold was a rock, in response she proudly said “Yeah, Gold is a rock,”  and then another student corrected her, saying that it is a metal.

In short, online schooling in Oregon is not particularly the best for smart children, they flaunted themselves as an upper class school like a college that dealt with social and political issues.

Though I’ve had my issues with that particular school, they went at a slower pace to where I could complete my work in a timely manner.