An article in the Post-Dispatch describes the enthusiasm with which high school students across the country are responding to online summer school courses:

Students taking classes online can submit their assignments in e-mails, “talk” to teachers through instant messages, and interact with other students in online discussion groups.

Some students and parents say online classes make learning easier.

“These online classes have been a blessing,” said Carol Meerschaert, whose 16-year-old daughter, Claire, has an attention deficit disorder.

The Missouri Virtual Instruction Program will begin offering summer school courses in 2009, and it will charge tuition. It probably makes sense to charge tuition for high-demand subjects, but I don’t see the point of the rigid distinctions MoVIP is drawing between school-year and summer-school courses. One of the possible advantages of online education is that students can begin and finish coursework whenever they want, working at their own pace.