– Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer

Catch them young, seems to be the motto of the Virtual High School, an incentive that offers high school students all over the world access to online courses. And the subjects taught are not just your run-of-the-mill science, history, mathematics and the like; they include offbeat topics such as “Learning to invest in the stock market,” “The Holocaust,” and “CNN gods: Power of modern media.”

Instructors in the Virtual High School pool are put through the NIM (NetCourse Instructional Methodologies) program before they are allowed access to their students. They have to chart out the entire syllabus before the course starts, which gives students a rough idea of the direction the lessons will take.

Schools that have teachers signed up as virtual instructors are offered a discounted rate for their students who wish to enroll in the courses offered. It’s a wonderful opportunity for children all over the world, says last year’s site coordinator Thomas Forbes, and hopes that the scheme will be used to help students recover credits from failed programs, a sort of summer school.