I've been teaching university courses for six years, and since 2020 I've noticed a sharp divide in how students engage with online classes. Some thrive with recorded lectures and flexible deadlines, while others simply disappear—no camera, no participation, no emails until the week before finals. Is online learning genuinely as effective as in-person instruction, or are we just accepting a lower standard because it's convenient? I keep going back and forth on this, especially after seeing my own students' outcomes vary so wildly depending on their self-discipline and home environment.