Sleep until 9 a.m. Go to PE. Go to newspaper. Go to theater. Go home.
I’m living the senior dream. I don’t have a core class and I don’t have homework. I can snooze through senior in and stay up through all hours of the night. Underclassmen would kill for my elective-filled schedule. And oh yeah, I’m failing.
Online economics. Our district’s “eSchool” lets students take certain courses online to make room for other classes during the school day, and to me it seemed like a great alternative. I’d get to take senior in and wouldn’t have to sit through lectures every day. Instead I could work at my own pace. My logic was flawless, or so I thought. After a month into the class I already knew I made a huge mistake.
eSchool is the most unorganized thing I’ve ever seen and considering the current state of my bedroom, that’s saying something. After logging in, I had to find my class, sign-in and then scavenge through all the forums, lesson plans and resource materials until I got to the first unit. Sounds simple enough, but with the maze of links to search through and the complete lack of helpful instructions, I was baffled.
Maybe the eSchool creators are forbidden to use spell check on Microsoft Word, I’m not sure, but the constant typos completely discredit the class. On the online quizzes and even the tests, questions are repeated multiple times and all the answers can be found word-for-word on web services like Answers.com and ChaCha. I honestly haven’t learned a thing.
The course originally stated students had until December to complete all the assignments, but just recently the class was given a due date to complete units three and four. The due date was given less than a week in advance and only three students out of the whole class saw it and completed the lesson. The rest were given failing grades and deemed “ineligible” for UIL activities, including myself.
After frantically emailing the LISD eSchool coordinator about my problem, she said the due dates were posted earlier than a week in advance. But on my computer screen I sure didn’t see it. eSchool’s disorganized system is failing 75% of the class with little warning.
Here I am in my senior year with the easiest schedule I’ll ever have and I’m failing my first class.
Sleep until 9 a.m. Stress about eSchool. Go to PE. Stress about eSchool. Go to newspaper. Stress about eSchool. Go to theater. Stress about eSchool. Go home. Stress about eSchool.
Not the senior dream I was hoping for.
