Public-school, college, and university educational institutions in the US are expensive and inefficient. Also, unfortunately, the social climate and educational values in many schools channel students toward "softer," easy disciplines and away from the "more difficult" fields of science, engineering, and mathematics. This is amply evidenced by very low percentages of U.S. university graduates in the latter disciplines. In contrast, online educational resources are less likely to promote choices of softer disciplines that have little marketable value in today's highly competitive world. Indeed, some of the very best online resources are those that focus on the hard sciences.Most importantly, online educational resources can be used easily and at a small fraction of the cost of classroom education to supplement traditional schooling or to serve as the primary medium of education.
The following listing of resources includes free online educational resources ranging from K-12 classes through university-level courses. However, some fee-based services are included also and should offer parents additional choices for their children. Additionally, a few private and off-line schools (i.e., traditional classroom-based schools) are mentioned because of the very high quality of service they provide.