By Cassidy Pate

As we all know, students in Wake County have been going to school online as opposed to going to school in person as a result of Covid-19. I created a survey and sent it out to students from Heritage High School to get their opinions on online school. I received a total of 46 responses that I have carefully gone through to ensure that this article will be accurate.

The first question on the survey was, “On a scale from 1-10 how much do you like online school?” The number on the scale that was chosen the most was 1. Most of the people who took this survey obviously are not enjoying online school as much as they would like to, and are actually struggling a lot. 

I asked if they thought online school was easier or harder than going to school in person. The response to this was 69.6% of the people think it’s harder and 30.4% think it’s easier. People have many different reasons for feeling the way they do about online school. Some people like online better because they don’t have to wake up as early and they like that it’s all done on a computer. On the other hand, some like going to school in person better because it’s easier for them to learn that way, and there are less distractions.

Another question that was on the survey was, “Do you prefer online school or in person?” 17.4% of the people said they prefer online while 82.6% said they prefer in person. Those who prefer going to school in person all seemed to mention the fact that they think it’s easier to pay attention in person than it is when you have all types of distractions at home. Most of the people who said they prefer online have responsibilities at home such as watching their siblings while their parents are at work. Some people are more relaxed at home and some don’t like how toxic school and the people at school can be.

Some of the pros about online school people mentioned is that they like being able to go at their own pace and do things on their own time. Those with anxiety and/or ADHD have mentioned how it’s easier for them to pay attention and to stay organized, because everything is in the same place. 

While there are some pros, there are also a lot of cons apparent about online school. Some people think it’s more stressful than normal school and that it’s harder to stay motivated because of all the different things going on. People seem to miss having some sort of human interaction. It seems to be harder for people to connect with teachers and other students in their classes since most people don’t have their cameras or microphones on. Sometimes the internet doesn’t work very well and it makes the teacher glitch out and you end up missing things. Staying motivated to do your work is hard when you aren’t actually in school because when you’re at your house instead it is very easy to procrastinate and find excuses not to do it. Lastly, most students feel that it’s uncomfortable to ask questions because you aren’t actually face to face with a teacher and you don’t have other kids around you to help you if you need it.

Overall, it seems that the majority of people do not like online school and would much rather be at school in person. Even though most students would rather be at school most of them  do understand that we can’t go to school in person because of Covid-19.