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Should K-12 schools be allowed to ban certain websites and apps? (1 Viewer)

Should school districts be allowed to ban websites and apps?

  • Yes

  • No

  • Only certain ones (please explain)

Results are only viewable after voting.

Josie

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Students are on computers more and more often today than every before at home and at school. At school, they're researching projects, writing papers, playing literacy and math games, reading and listening to books and various other things pertaining to the classes they have. We all know that school districts block certain websites (about 98% of school districts do this according to the AASL. The most commonly blocked sites are - you guessed it -- social media like Twitter, TikTok, SnapChat and streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. And, of course, any websites with obscenity, pornography and other material that the school district believes is harmful or unproductive for their students to be viewing.

The question is -- should school districts be allowed to ban students from accessing certain websites and apps at school? Please vote and comment further below.
 
Setting aside protecting the children entirely for a second...any private internet network should be able to block whatever websites/apps they want.
 
As a newly former teacher, our school did have filters that kept kids from seeing various websites. In fact the STATE controlled the filter . The local district had no control other than formally requesting site to be opened.

In saying that, I certainly feel there are sites that should be held back. Not to mention some apps. TikTok comes to mind
 
Of course. A no brainer. School is for education and not for entertainment purposes.
 
Sure

Just like they ban books.


Banning things just makes the “thing” not exist!


My son’s school bans bullying! So I’m never going to have to worry about him being bullied, right? It’s banned. So it doesn’t exist.
 

No one thinks that, Bird.
 
Gatsby said:
Yes. In fact, schools should ban all apps and smartphones.
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So that they can be prepared for their actual futures?

Some teachers reacted to ChatGpt by requiring all work to be done by pencil and paper. Any businesses you are aware of that works that way today?
 
mrjurrs said:
So that they can be prepared for their actual futures?

Some teachers reacted to ChatGpt by requiring all work to be done by pencil and paper. Any businesses you are aware of that works that way today?
Click to expand...
If watching Tiktok videos on their phones during algebra class is preparing them for their actual futures, then the future is a bleak dystopia and we don't need schools at all.
 
Gatsby said:
If watching Tiktok videos on their phones during algebra class is preparing them for their actual futures, then the future is a bleak dystopia and we don't need schools at all.
Click to expand...
What’s the algorithm that brought that particular video up in your feed?


Guess what…there’s *gasp* MATH underlying it.
 
Gatsby said:
Yes. In fact, schools should ban all apps and smartphones.
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Why do you need to bad apps if you have banned smartphones?

Regardless, I generally agree. Most studies I've seen have shown huge improvements. Though simultaneously schools should also invest more in teaching technology and kids having access to things like 3D printers. But that's very different than everyone running around with their own personal smart phones.
 
BirdinHand said:
What’s the algorithm that brought that particular video up in your feed?


Guess what…there’s *gasp* MATH underlying it.
Click to expand...
Unless the class is teaching them about recommendation engines and machine learning and linear algebra (which it probably isn't, in high school), then it's not relevant to whatever the class is about.

And even if it is, you don't need to be watching twerk videos on your phone to learn about those things. That's just as much of a distraction in ML classes as any other class.
 

I retired from teaching because of phones in schools.
 
BirdinHand said:
What’s the algorithm that brought that particular video up in your feed?


Guess what…there’s *gasp* MATH underlying it.
Click to expand...
Eh.

Honestly, modern social median algorithms are shockingly harmful. Compared to the "endless feed" it used to just show you only what/who you follow in descending order of date published.

I consider a lot of modern social media design to be as harmful and predatory as gambling.
 
I will say that I think this is different than the books thing.

As long as on school property or is school property itself. I do think they should have to present a reason for blocking a website from their networks, but there can easily be good reasons to do so, especially sites that are not related to education or educational research. And blocking from the school computers is easily a matter of logistics and security. Those computers can only handle so much operating on them, and have the purpose of being for school learning, so things outside of school activities, learning apps, etc should be able to be prohibited. There is also the chance that kids could download a virus and end up messing up the computer, even with good security programs.

Many adults cannot use their work computers for other activities and are restricted when they connect to work networks.
 
mrjurrs said:
So that they can be prepared for their actual futures?

Some teachers reacted to ChatGpt by requiring all work to be done by pencil and paper. Any businesses you are aware of that works that way today?
Click to expand...
We just don't allow AI and apps like ChatGPT to be accessed from work computers. That seems much more reasonable. And I think there should be a balance.
 
Gatsby said:
If watching Tiktok videos on their phones during algebra class is preparing them for their actual futures, then the future is a bleak dystopia and we don't need schools at all.
Click to expand...
And that's the only thing students use their smartphones for?

Get off your smartphone and go see what actually happens in schools.
 
I don’t disagree. But that’s also part of the “why” I believe in exposing kids to it and teaching them about it.

Instead, you see people lamenting that kids aren’t necessarily taught cursive handwriting.

What’s a more valuable skill? Knowing how to navigate and understanding why you see/don’t see things (and what’s real/fake) in social media or writing in cursive?

roguenuke said:
Many adults cannot use their work computers for other activities and are restricted when they connect to work networks
Click to expand...
I don’t disagree - their device/network - their rules.
 
mrjurrs said:
Stupid
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Chat GPT is a tool at best when it comes to writing. Unless you learn how to write and what good writing is without it you won't be able to use it well.
 
roguenuke said:
We just don't allow AI and apps like ChatGPT to be accessed from work computers. That seems much more reasonable. And I think there should be a balance.
Click to expand...
Check out Khanmigo (?).

It's Khan Academy's AI. I've had students turn in a response from an AI as the first draft of an assignment and then have them rewrite it as the final draft. Imo, this is a solid writing exercise for students that struggle with forming written reports. It does less for the students that already have the skills.
 
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