OPINION
BY PARKER STALVEY, Freshman
BLYTHEWOOD--Every day at Blythewood High School there is a student who tries to log-on to a website, and discovers it has been blocked.
The Richland School District 2 is too strict about its filtering of websites in schools. School computers and accounts are already monitored by teachers and other staff, and some students will find their way around the block anyway.
They block educational videos on Youtube and other network sites. 66 percent of the video services are blocked during school, according to The American Association Of School Librarians.
According to The American Association Of School Librarians, schools filter 74 percent of online chatting or IM, 88 percent of social networking sites, 69 percent of gaming, 66 percent of video services, 41 percent of personal email accounts, 17 percent of newsgroups, and 9 percent of professional development tools for education.
“I am not one for everything to be blocked, but there has to be limits,” said Tami Lenker, Blythewood High School Learning and Technology Coach.
I agree that not everything should be blocked, but there should be limits. Schools should not block Youtube just because of several inappropriate videos. The district should trust its students to do the right thing, the district can only protect students from so much.
“Most of the time parents are the ones complaining,” Lenker said.
Parents should not be the ones to complain, they can not protect their children all of the time. Parents, teachers and schools should put their trust in the students to do their work and make proper decisions and not to visit any websites that are considered school inappropriate, including internet scams, nudity or adult-related content, virus-potential downloads, phishing-suspicious sites or gambling URLs.
Many people wonder how sites get unblocked. There is a certain process teachers and schools go though to get websites, videos and extra content unblocked.
“There is a system with google and they categorize websites by what the website contains. They decide what gets blocked and unblocked. However, teachers can fill out a form to petition what gets blocked or unblocked” Lenker said.
“I think it’s important for students to conduct themselves maturely. I also do not believe in blocking everything. Students should be given a chance to be trusted with technology,” said Lenker.
According to the American Association Of School Librarians, when asked to unblock websites 27 percent of schools have the sites unblocked in a few hours. 35 percent have it unblocked within two days. 17 percent wait for more than a few days, 20 percent wait a week or more.
“I don't think the district should block websites because teachers need to use certain websites for lessons and if they are blocked, their whole lesson plan will be ruined. Also, students will have limited access to completing homework assignments to the fullest of their potential when website access is restricted,” said Imani Diggs, freshman.
“I think schools should not block websites because there are so many websites which can be useful to use but are blocked. I go online about 4 times or more during school and sometimes I see websites that are blocked which I need to use for class,” said Ashna Divekar, freshman at Ridge View High School.
At least twice a month, the district blocks a website that interferes with the lesson plan for that day, I think stuff like porn, sexual assault, and other stuff like that should be blocked. I don't think stuff like music group's, minecraft, sports website’s, and other website’s should be blocked because not all Youtuber’s or websites are bad,” said Diggs.
“I think that websites that go against school regulations should be blocked because we would have websites we need in class to use and then important websites would be unblocked,” said Divekar.
In conclusion, students should be allowed to search whatever they please but in accordance with district policies. However, if the website contains inappropriate material, then it should be blocked and restricted.
“Filter a website, and you protect a student for a day. Educate students about online safety in the real world environment, and you protect your child for a lifetime,” Christopher Harris said.
