What School Do You Go To?

I am writing this a little ill at ease and really not sure how I feel about this topic.  I am talking about "online high schools" or rather, Forsyth County’s iAchieve Virtual Academy, an online school.  Don't get me wrong, I had my share of high school drama and NO, I would never want to repeat those years, but the key word here is "repeat" meaning, "do again"...because I did have the experience once.  I am not sure these kids are really getting that and will they regret it someday?  I don't know.  The same can be said for home-schooled kids but do we really want to go there?

Anyhow - here is the news:  Currently, about 7,000 Georgia students are enrolled in full-time online programs.  When school begins again in August, six full-time campuses will deliver online classes rooted in the Georgia Performance Standards curriculum. Most will offer free enrollment statewide.  Among the schools' likely clients are Georgia's home school market, which has grown by nearly 8 percent since 2007 to 42,474 students this school year. They represent about 2.6 percent of Georgia's K-12 students. 

Forsyth County Schools launched iAchieve last fall as the state's first virtual local high school. The online campus has about 130 students, with just 30 percent of whom were home-schooled.  A few others residing outside Forsyth pay $3,000 in tuition for classes.  Some of the kids use this system from overseas, if their parents take a job in another country but want to maintain their Forsyth County eduction. 

Georgia Cyber Academy, another such school, has received 1,500 applications from parents who want flexible schedules for their kids. I can see this being very good for promising athletes that need to devote many hours a day to training in their sport. 

The academy began classes in 2007 with 2,500 students, 45 percent of whom were home-schooling.  Matt Arkin, head of school, said parents are attracted to it because their kids can work at their own pace. Ten percent of the students take gifted courses. Special needs services also are provided. This fall, Advanced Placement courses and classes in foreign language, music and art will be added to the curriculum.

But wait, where is the football team, the debate team, the clubs and cafeteria?  Times are changing and along with it are options that we never dreamed of back in the 80's when we were obsessed with Duran Duran and passing notes.

What do you think?