Cyber High Schools: Good or Bad?

This is a topic I really struggle with and I am divided on whether or not cyber high schools really serve our students well. On one hand, I am fully supportive of the idea that one shoe does not fit all with regards to educating students. When looking at some of the current cyber high schools such as Phoenix Union Cyber High School, it appears as though strict attendance guidelines were implemented to help ensure future success. Strict rules were also established with regards to being eliminated from the program. These are two areas in which students will learn to become better citizens in society in addition to the education they will be earning.

On the other hand, at what point do we make our students accountable for learning to deal with society? More specifically, do we want our students to believe that they do not have to work like everyone else and everything will be modified to meet each individuals needs? Are we doing them an injustice when it comes to putting these students in the work force? I believe that students need to learn that they cannot always be at the top of the food chain per se. They need to learn that unless you own the business or are a top manager, they most likely are going to have to learn how to deal with taking orders or doing things they do not necessarily want to do. This is a fact of life.

Upon researching cyber high schools, it appears as though this is still early in the design stages therefore no set standards have been establish across the board. So Michigan is running their cyber schools differently then Nebraska is. If this is the case, are the teachers that teach/mentor students in a cyber school required to be highly qualified? (Home schooling adults are not required to be highly qualified, is this similar?) How are GPA’s calculated for post secondary education? When on the Phoenix website, they post whole letter grades, no minuses or pluses. Will this hurt high school students getting into college that run on a standard 4.0 scale? If the “average” student receives an 83% (B-) while a cyber school student gets the same grade but is granted the grade of a B on a straight scale who will have the better GPA?