Cyber Charters

I’m a big proponent of charter schools. Because they are free from the regulations and practical constraints of the public school system, they often manage to provide small class sizes, extended school days, and more supportive administrations to its teaching staff. But I recently read about Western Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, a virtual charter school that students attend online (High School Is Virtual, but the Caps and Gowns Are Real, New York Times. June, 2003). And these schools are on the rise, with 67 schools and over 16,000 students as of 2003.

This trend forced me to ask myself why virtual schools should exist. In the article, several “virtual students” explained that normal school did not work for them, mainly because peers, or in some cases teachers or coaches, were unkind. There was also one student cited that had a medical problem that would have made conventional schooling an untenable option (this thought piece does not speak to the medically ineligible).

While my heart goes out to students that encounter social difficulty in school, I’m not sure that this trend – reflective of our increasingly virtual society – is encouraging. I would have expected myself to be more positive about a charter school that effectively provides individual attention and a conducive environment for a conventional education in the critical areas of math, science, and language. However, there is something beneficial about the Darwinian nature of “real,” brick-and-mortar school, where students must interact and engage, struggle and reconcile. Isn’t that part of education too? You cannot learn conflict resolution by being a recluse, and high school is a pivotal social learning experience. I feel that our society sometimes supplies options which foster weak and unprepared adults, rather than teach engagement and resilience.

While I witness conflict and social tension in the classroom, I also would opt for real classrooms over cyber ones any day. Students in Baltimore have the opportunity to make mistakes, confront their problems and hopefully learn ways to overcome them.