A Danish school has declared that it is pursuing a course of full implementation of distance learning, something that is currently common for only isolated classes in many educational institutions in that country.

Copenhagen Post opines that Orestad Secondary School students could soon resemble what it terms the stereotypical American high school student, read: lazy; arguing that the incumbent system makes such students a rare sight in education-proud Denmark.

Orestad High School, which is situated in the Amager city district, had said publicly that it hopes to roll out its distance learning programme over summer, meaning that students will no longer be required to attend classroom sessions. However, under legal guidelines, the school will not be able to launch the programme without first obtaining Education Ministry special dispensation–which still maintains that physical attendance is mandatory for at least some classes.

Orestad Secondary School principal Allan Kjaer Andersen said that learning itself was a greater priority than going to school. “We’re interested in students achieving the goals we’ve established,” Andersen told newspaper reporters.

“To me it’s necessary to be flexible if we’re to achieve the objective that 95 percent of our kids receive a secondary education. So we also have to take into account those students who have problems getting up early in the morning,” said the principal.

The president of the national school principals’ association Jens Boe Nielsen said that distance learning lacks the crucial element of personal contact between students and teachers which is fundamental to education. “I don’t think that’s something you can replace,” he said. ”There can be a lot of advantages with using the internet, but I honestly hope that distance learning doesn’t become the norm at the expense of real teaching.”

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