When I discovered WGU 1.5 years ago, I did much better simply by being allowed to go at whatever pace I felt like, and taking time off when I felt like it, and I managed to get through school in a fairly short amount of time.
I'm doing online graduate school now, and fortunately my supervisors are somewhat amenable to this style; they simply give me a bunch of recordings of their lectures and all the assignments that I'm expected to do all at once. Some days I don't do anything, other days I'll spend six hours straight watching lectures and doing homework.
Have recently watched my daughter respond quite differently in online learning in group environments. One is Wingchun( a martial art) taught by enthusiastic and outright funny instructors. My little girl loves every minute of class. The other is oddly-enough Montessori class where she feels held back by other kids and their chatter. But she LOVES the IRL Montessori classes.
I feel that this form of online high school wont be for everyone but there is a segment of those for whom this medium suits them best due to combination of circumstance, motivation, and personality. Education is not 'one mode suits all'. I struggled to stay engaged at high school. Tertiary wasnt much better until i discovered extra-mural (distance education), and loved it.
I think there's a huge under-served group who are specifically not the majority. Smart kids are generally held back by being shoehorned in with other kids.
Personally, I think we need to figure out how to use online resources best and that the future will most certainly be a mix. But also please entertain that maybe the optimal audience for this program isn't the majority at all, actually. And that doesn't make it less valuable.