A recent commercial for the online educational company k12.com features teenagers “suffering” through a series of academic and social slights. Remember those days?

Someone behind you in class kicking your seat.

The word “loser,” or “bitch,” or “slut,” or “kiss-ass” written on your locker.

Waiting for the bus in the rain.

Sitting alone in the cafeteria.

We all went through these things. Some of it we think of and laugh, while some of it still causes pangs of sadness. Adolescence is, after all, a lot like seasickness:

Funny, but only in retrospect.

So say a kid (or his parent) sees this commercial, and decides,

Yes. To hell with bullies, and pre-dawn bus rides, and face-to-face interactions. I (or my kid) can sleep in, wear pajamas, turn off the laptop camera, and practice poor hygiene. Learn on my OWN time.

That way I will not be bullied, or made to feel lonesome, or weird, or strange. I can control my surroundings, and the people in it. I can do this for four years of high school. Brilliant!

Until he goes to college, and realizes he can’t control his surroundings or the people in it. And even if he does online college, what happens when (if, BIG if) he gets a job?

Talk about a loss of control over your surroundings and the people in it. What about that annoying co-worker who takes credit for your work? Or the 45-minute commute in a snowstorm? Or the 5:00 deadline on a Friday? Or the narcissistic boss? The office slut? The demanding client?

How in the world are our kids dealing with these things if they are shielded from them in adolescence?

We are at a dangerous educational impasse in this country. Trying to convince millions of American school children that public school is too fraught with danger and impossible challenges, and that the safety of their own homes offers the protection and boundaries they need for academic success is a slippery proposition.

Yikes. Gulp. Egads. We are well on our way to living out the movie “Wall-E.”