It seem to me that some of the people are not taking into account that there might be circumstances where services of this type are useful and very much needed.

I know of a young lady who had a certain amount of pain from her condition that made home schooling a much better and wiser choice for her. There may be cases of fear and emotional scarring from experience at a regular school that may indicate the use of this kind of online tutoring. Not all people are able to deal with “normal” schooling” and this might make academic progress easier for them just long enough to both graduate from high school and meet the long state’s standards for academic excellence and qualifying for college. Meeting the local state’s standards and that of the local education board and the standard for entering college is far more necessary for career than how popular you are. Career is what makes funding your ability to pay mortgages, rent, putting food on your table and funding a decent standard of living.

By which I define is ability to pay all those bills for basic things like groceries, car, food, rent, mortgage, taxes,utilities, yearly medical, eye and dental exams which are necessary.

Getting high school successfully with the right skills, diploma and a decent grade average is usually the only way sure way to college. Without at least a high school diploma as a ticket to college, one is usually going nowhere in the job world outside of McDonald’s etc or as waiter or a garbage collector fast.

Socialization is important but it comes second to at least getting a sufficiently high grade average in high school to earn that high school diploma and to get into college. You will get not very far in getting a decent white collar career without a high school diploma as a basic building block to base your higher education after that upon.

If this online school is a necessary detour on the road to a higher education beyond high school so be it. This online school is but a temporary thing. Socialization can be learned by taking a few months off if one can to learn life -guarding at a pool, being a waiter in a restaurant, doing volunteer work at an office or at a charity or by taking some extra courses in adult ed which in some areas take people as young as 16. I was an adult ed teacher in my county so I know that my students could take an adult class as young as 16.

Those who say sorry “segregation” is never the answer, may never had to walk in the shoes of the bashed and the relentlessly bullied or of a person whose physical or emotional well-being may require services like these.

At least these GLBT (I am cutting that off at 4 letters so that doesn’t become an unwieldy and lengthy alphabet soup name 6 or more characters long as it sometimes does)can study in safety, their studies and their academic progress unmarred, undeterred, uninterfered with by by fear, hatred and bullying. This is an additional learning resource that is not for everyone of course with a possibility of getting together on trips. An additional choice in learning that might just be a badly needed lifesaver for some nervous students who haven’t done well or don’t do well in a traditional bricks and mortar school due to harmful and bullying behavior they’ve experienced. It may not be everyone’s socialization ideal but there may be some students who are very afraid to go to a regular school. We should make allowance for such student and recognize that while this is not a panacea it may be again the lifesaver for their studies where they can enjoy the safety, peace and calm they need to graduate successfully and get onto a more mature learning environment like college in a more liberal geographic area where this online safety net that got them through and out of high school can then be tossed away.