Over the weekend I saw the commercial for K12, the online public charter school, something like a million times (OK fine, like 3 times). Each time I saw it, I got more annoyed that it even existed. Schooling options are great, and the fact that this is a public one is great too. But, the social aspect of high school is huge. High school is tough, no doubt. But the lessons learned during those four years can last a life time.
Sure bullying is a big problem and it makes school rough on a lot of kids. But, you can't run away from all the problems life throws at you*. It's a great time to learn about conflict resolution. In 15 years when you're in the "real world" and you have a coworker who's a jerk, you don't get to stop coming into work. You confront the person or talk to a boss about it. You communicate the problem and try to work out a solution.
With all the technology and social media platforms that we now have at our finger tips, we're becoming a very disconnected society. I fear that if our kids start going to school online and their primary interactions with teachers and peers are all virtual that we're going to be a very big problem on our hands. If people think millenials require too much hand holding and difficult to work with, just think what it will be like with this generation of kids who have the opportunity to completely avoid human interaction.
*Note: Obviously there are some very extreme cases of bullying and other situations that call for home schooling and alternative education. Those aren't the situations I'm talking about.
