Scott McLeod wrote a post about his belief that school Internet restrictions should be removed as students grow older, and some recent “pushback” he has gotten on that stance. He asked what his readers thought.
Many people have responded so far. Here is what I wrote:
In the scheme of challenges facing our schools, students, and communities, completely removing content filters from public schools is a battle that I don’t believe is worth fighting.
I’ve found that there are so many web tools available out there, that it’s relatively easy to find one that isn’t blocked and does a comparable job to the one I might have wanted to use but was blocked. Or, just develop a good relationship with the tech director where I listen (as well as tell) and odds are they’ll remove the block on the site I want to use.
Let’s put our energy into fights that I don’t believe have such ready alternatives available — like schools connecting with families to respond to problems that might really close the “achievement gap” like getting affordable housing built, safer neighborhoods, and accessible health care.
Larry
What do you think?
Larry – I agree. You are proof positive that there are many tools out there, so if one is blocked, another is not. I also think kids do stupid things and we need to protect them from themselves. Blocking is annoying, but it’s part of that protection.
I doubt they will ever cut back on restrictions, just because its too easy for students to get distracted and not enough teachers to keep them from playing games when they should be working.