Starting with this year’s freshmen, every city school student must take one online course to graduate, a nod to the ubiquity of the Internet, of course, but also its power to shape personal outcomes.
Take 17-year-old DeMarcus Oliver at Whitehaven High School. If not for e-learning, he’d be registering for his senior year next year.
Instead, he’s taking English IV—the only senior-level class he needs—at home, after a full day of school, planning to graduate a year early this spring.
“I get home from school, eat dinner, and then get on e-school for three or four hours. I love everything about it.”
Except for reduced leisure, he pays nothing for the chance to accelerate.
“Friends and television, that can wait. I will always have time for that,” he says.
The city schools offer 28 online classes for credit to high school students and 12 in the middle school.