All students who will be graduating in 2017 and beyond are required to take an online course in order to graduate.

These online classes can allow for an extra class or free up a period in the day that freshmen don’t have a class to go to or specific place to go. “The online course doesn’t really make sense because if you send people home to do work, most of the time they are probably not going to do it,” freshman Zane Belkhayet said.

This new requirement has caused many disagreements within the freshman class. With the shift to online classes growing, many students looking to eliminate classes and free up elective slots have turned their attention onto P.E.

“P.E is not very academic,” sophomore Faisel Hassen said. “Its more for keeping people active.”

The pros of taking online P.E. allow freshmen and sophomores to enjoy three elective classes right away, giving them room in schedules for classes that either take up multiple periods or language classes that are needed for higher level diplomas.

However, the drawback from P.E. is that those who plan to take it online will be required to take it for four years.

”It would be beneficial, seeing how a lot of people don’t really participate in a lot of physical activities outside of school,” freshman Daniel Interiano said.

If students take a course online, their activities can go unmonitored while they are in their free period. This can be considered a major drawback as it takes time away that is needed for homework and, for seniors, time needed to do requirements for transcripts and applications.

The benefits of an online course cannot be overlooked.  An online class also allows students to get ahead of the curve and for example, be taking Algebra II while others are still in Geometry. “Wasting your time in an easy class just seems useless,” freshman Nora Hasrat said. “it would be better to just have another class.”

Seniors who are in good standing can also choose to take an online class and opt out of their first period. They then can come to school later, which gives the added incentive to both stay out of trouble as well as deciding to take an online course.

It is not just the fact that online courses that are increasing in popularity, also more and more school resources can be found online.

“ There is a paradigm shift towards technology.” Principal Vincent Randazzo said. It wasn’t so long ago when the FCPS Blackboard site was just starting its use for students to keep track of their homework and courses. Now it is used by  most teachers for both core and elective classes. Not to mention, the addition of online textbooks in the school curriculum has also shown a stronger interest in technology. It is not so difficult to see online courses gaining the same popularity.