At Mount Vernon High School, ninth and tenth-grade students are required to complete (and pass) an online health course called Edmentum. Edmentum is supposed to empower and educate students about their health.

At first, online health sounds the most convenient, with no lectures and being allowed to work at your own pace. But there are many reasons why we need to get rid of online health. Yes, of course, we still need health in school, but is handing students a long, online health course really the best way to teach them? Let’s be real, no one reads every single page in the online course. And what’s holding them back from just looking up the answers? The most beneficial and educational option is a teacher. 

The first problem with online health is that most students don’t learn. To tell you the truth, most people just click through without reading, look up the answers, or straight up guess. Students will just copy and paste the question into Google, and it spits the answer right out. It is effortless for the students, but it isn’t educating them one bit. This is just promoting cheating and is a waste of time.  Nine out of 10 people said they’re not getting quality education about health when it is presented online. It is also really repetitive and boring, which doesn’t engage the students at all. Learning about health requires real conversation. 

Lastly, a teacher to teach health will ensure all students are getting educated. When you’re learning from a screen, it’s so easy to get distracted or zone out. When there’s no teacher, no discussion, and no accountability, how much are students really learning? A health teacher can explain things more deeply and answer questions. It’s also more interesting to hear a teacher talk than to be expected to read online texts. 

As you can see, there are many reasons why online health is not an educational option. Mount Vernon High School should change its ways of teaching health.