^{What is better, online education or on-campus study?}

Introduction

Would you like to sit in front of your device for hours or you would like to go to the campus, meet your friends, have face-to-face education and have fun in between the teaching hours? Most of you would prefer classroom-based education, which has many advantages. Classroom-based education is beneficial for students’ physical and mental health as well as their personality development.

Mental health concerns

Firstly, this is proved by scientific research that spending long hours on a device affects children's mental health. Research shows that online learners lack creative skills. They are depending on auto-generated ideas on the internet and they are in the habit of googling even for simple creative tasks. Moreover, late response to a question is a commonly observed concern among these students. Scientists say that exposure to a device for more than seven hours can lead to thinning of the brain. In addition to this, online education cause isolation for the student which can lead to many psychological issues. The learners will tend to be introverted, afraid of public speaking and reluctant to socialise. Hence there is a fair chance that their mental health is not as sound as the students going to the school campus, interacting with peers, having sports lessons and other school activities.

Physical Health Concerns

Secondly, online courses also affect the physical health of the students. It is a general observation that students having online classes become lethargic and avoid any kind of physical activity. After spending long time on online courses, physical activity becomes a challenge for them. Scientific researches prove that children spending long hours on devices face obesity problem more frequently than those who are going to school regularly. Obesity itself is the root cause of many other physical problems. Physical activity is indispensable for a healthy lifestyle and schools provide many opportunities to students to have fun activities for their physical health. Students have sports lessons and competitions which enable them to learn discipline, sportsman spirit ship, a sense of competition and many more. Children have their physical growth time during their school years and therefore, the on-campus study is crucial for their healthy growth.

Social values and Norms  

Thirdly, classroom study not only provides a healthy environment for learning but also provides a platform to learn many social values and norms. Children learn basic manners, how to make friends, how to behave with younger and elders and many more with a practice on daily basis. They make friends and have a great time with them. They have the opportunity to share their ideas face to face. There are many activities at school campuses like sports, drama, speeches, debates etc. All these counts towards their physical and mental growth.  On the other hand, online education has a very limited range of activities, and all just sit in front of their devices. Therefore, on-campus education is crucial for a student learning environment not for academic purposes, but also for life skills.

Counter Arguments

Many people say that online education is economical and time-saving. Students do not need to buy uniforms, shoes etc and can save a lot of money through all these things. Also, some schools are far away from home and there is a big cost of travelling to the school campuses. So, transportation expenses can be saved through online education. Moreover, students have to spend time on travelling to and from school, there are many lessons where educational activities are not taking place on campus. But in online classes, there is no waste of time and students are occupied most of their time with academic activities. But can we compromise on the physical and mental health of the children just for saving money? Uniforms and other essentials are bought once or twice in an academic year, and they can be used in their next academic years as well. As far as transportation is concerned, online education also has some requirements: you need to have a device and a strong internet connection which is of course not free of cost. If we consider the benefits of on-campus study, spending some money is worth it.

Conclusion

In conclusion, classroom learning is strongly recommended as compared to online learning by most educationists. School campuses are the best platform for a healthy lifestyle, suitable for their mental well-being, and physical health. Learners get training for life skills and become useful and successful individuals in society, while online learners are lacking many skills essential to living and working in society.