"It is easier. It is convenient. There is less work." Such thoughts occur in students minds when given the opportunity to attend classes from home. Several believe in the concept, thinking it is the best option for them. However, there are several downsides to distance learning, particularly online school. In addition to the lack of information, there are crucial skills an individual gains from attending public or private school that they could never acquire through online school or video conferences. Such forms of learning also do not consider the distinct types of learners and the factor that what may work for one student will not work for another.

With distance learning comes lack of information, as well as misinterpretation. Online courses are often catered towards those who are taking an online class during the school year or have a full-time job. As a result, the provided resources are more concise and fail to include information for subjects that may be ambiguous, causing students to apply these concepts incorrectly. Students are unable to understand the curriculum, as compared to their peers attending school outside of their home who are given more thorough instruction for topics that online school programs may not provide an explanation for. Moreover, for those not extended the opportunity to video conference with personal tutors, students can not ask questions in real-time. Having to email your teacher about one question can end in a string of emails with the student still confused. Those who can inquire in person, however, better comprehend the information and are ultimately better equipped to understand future curriculum in subjects where each topic builds on one another. Mathematics, for instance, is cumulative. Without understanding basic Algebra, a student can not understand Calculus. Similarily, those with a lack of learning and information struggle in the future when told to apply more difficult concepts due to their misunderstanding of simple concepts.

Online school and video conferences also fail to teach students certain skills that prove to be crucial in the future, in one's career and life. Such skills include presenting, leading, critical thinking, and even working with other students. With online courses and video conferences, there is a severe lack in the listed factors. Most assignments consist of projects, virtual laboratory experiments, research and technical papers, and, of course, tests. This is all mainly individual work, with no collaboration between other students. Making that shift from individual work to team work is not easy, and working with others is a common task in many fields, like engineering and medicine, that students will have to face in their future careers. Working in groups comes with leadership, an important attribute that students will need when they are tasked with managing a project or even running a company in their future career. In addition to collaboration and leading, presentations is another factor that distance learning fails to include. If a student, for instance, wants to obtain a business major in college, they will need to be able to present their ideas effectively and efficiently, a skill that is necessary in not just business, but in all career pathways. Although the listed skills are all important, they can ultimately be attained. One's ability to critically think, however, is not gained through viewing a slideshow posted by a teacher or video conferencing with an instructor; it gained through experience - experience you can not get at home with distance learning. All of these skills are necessary in one's future career, and without such skills or exposure to them, students will face many obstacles that public and private school would otherwise adequately prepare them for.

The described form of distance learning can be advantageous for those who are unable to attend school in person due to unforeseen issues, such as a medical diagnosis. These students, especially if they are video conferencing, have the opportunity to learn one-on-one with a teacher who can address their individual needs. However, most forms of distance learning, like online classes, do not account for an individual's needs nor the distinct types of learners and how what may work for one student will not work for another. Several students need to be in a classroom to fully understand a topic, and in most cases, learning in a classroom, outside of one's home, can be highly beneficial for certain subjects. Physics, for example, includes many experiments in its curriculum, coverin topics like sound waves. A student may have difficulty understanding sound waves through a virtual laboratory experiment, a factor that distance learning does consider because such programs choose to use one resource for all students, despite there being different types of learners, such as audio, visual, and kinesthetic. In public and private schools, however, teachers offer a variety of resources, including textbooks for visual learners, educational videos for audio learners, and phsyical, not virtual, laboratory experiments for kinesthetic learners. This, in turn, helps all students better comprehend the curriculum.

With a lack of information, opportunities to obtain skills that prove to be helpful in an individual's career, and resources that do not cater toward all types of learners, distance learning does not benefit those who plan to attend classes from their home. Several students jump to the idea of online schooling or video conferencing with a personal tutor, thinking it is easier and more convenient, but there are ultimatelly more disadvantages than advantages when looking at distance learning from a short-term and long-term perspective.