Have you ever failed a class? Ever thought “Oh my gosh, I’m never going to be able to finish school?" Maybe you procrastinate too much and can’t finish everything on time? Well, there is an educational website that can allow you to work at your own speed, allowing you to learn more efficiently and get your work done on time.
The foundation of children’s and adult’s success revolves around education, schooling, and what they learn during the twelve years of learning they go through. Sometimes people succeed, sometimes they fall behind. Plato is an educational helper that may be able to help a child or teen get a head start or pick up where they left off on their education journey. Salem High School’s Plato instructor Frank Myszak was pretty enthusiastic to share his thoughts on Plato and answer a variety of questions frequently asked.
When asked what Plato is, Myszak explained that Plato is a website created by the company Edmentum for students in need of educational assistance. Plato was created for both middle school and high school students. Recently two companies competing over Plato’s website have merged into a super company, making new improvements on Plato. Myszak said Plato can help students succeed in their studies because if a student was to fall behind in their studies, then they could make up the work on Plato at their own pace. Or if a student is in a special situation or has specific needs, they can do schooling through Plato. Plato can also help students that attend Prosser because they lose an hour of class that can be taken on Plato.
Plato offers a wide variety of CORE classes and some additional classes that can be taken for fun and learning. Myszak explained that now, with the basic classes needed to graduate from high and middle school being offered, there are also honors classes that can be taken. Unfortunately these won’t count for college credits. You have to take in-person classes to receive college credits from a course.
Almost anyone going through a school district can access these courses because the website for Plato is already worldwide! Also since these classes are not timed, a student may finish the class at his/her own pace, emailing teachers and staff if they have any questions.
In order to begin Plato classes, it is recommended to meet with your school’s counselor and Plato instructor to talk about online classes. Parents can even watch over their children/teens by Plato’s parent portal, allowing them to see grades and assignment progress.
“Plato isn’t a bad website. It’s not too helpful, but it has helped me keep in touch with my online classes,” said Sophomore Jonah Morgan. It’s a little frustrating at times though.”
SHS teacher Bryan Putnam said he isn’t a fan of Plato.
“I dislike Plato a lot. It doesn’t help our students because they can just look up the answers on Google. Most students won’t even reach out for help if they need it. Now I don’t think it’s all bad, because in some cases Plato can help a student out if they were really trying to learn the class course.”