Are students responsible enough…
Feb 24th, 2007 by Mr. Higgins
For the second semester, I proposed the following blog to both of my web development classes.
In a blog that is at least two paragraphs in length, I would like you to write about how you use the internet. When writing your blog entry, here are a few things I want you to think about…
- What do you do while on the internet? What sort of services do you use and why? What type of websites do you visit and why?
- Are you part of any social networking websites (myspace, facebook, etc..) ?
- What forms of communication do you use on the internet to connect with others?
- Are you more likely to check the internet for your news or watch television?
- Are students responsible enough to be trusted at school concerning websites such as Wikipedia, YouTube, or MySpace? Why or why not?
- Have you ever wrote a blog before?
The students blogs, especially for the 5th question, were very interesting to me, especially since both student and teacher are part of the Web 2.0 generation. Take a look at these few…
Here is the middle ground
Truthfully, I’m not sure if students should be trusted with myspace, youtube, ect. you can get into some pretty bad things on both of them. Some of the kids may not get into the stuff, but theres always gonna be somebody that messes it up for everyone. Theres good things and bad things on each of those websites
Here is the student saying that some peers are irresponsible and ruin the school atmosphere
School is for education, NOT entertainment. Also, although the majority of the student body could be trusted to handle this privelege maturely, there are those select few who have not yet realized what maturity is. There are those that, during a computer class for example, would simply message there friends rather than paying attention as they should. In addition, it has been proven that students cannot handle a myspace maturely AT HOME, let alone at school. Although it is regrettable to say this, to allow this privelege at school would only spark more trouble and disiplinary issues for the faculty from those few disaggreeable students.
Here is devil’s advocate for school administrators
I honestly believe that myspace should not be blocked but some of the things on it should. I also believe that maybe if myspace wasnt blocked the teachers could use it for the students to check assignments or just for communication reasons.
Here is the straight shooter
people would abuse the privilege and then it would just be taken away again so there is really no winning when it comes to that issue. If they did let us someone would take it to far and ruin it for everyone. So basically I do not think that the student body could be trusted while using anything like facebook or myspace or any other dort of websites like that.
Not once did I see a student blog that fully supported students being able to go onto websites such as MySpace, Wikipedia, and YouTube. Wonder why this is? (Rhetorical Question) I blog because if I show my opinion on the issues, students are more likely to discuss the issue.
Rhetorical question? I’d say it is flawed. Why are Wikipedia, YouTube, and MySpace included in the same group?
Notice how most responses address the childish use of MySpace, and (arguably it’s more mature equivalent) Facebook. The use of such purely social networks during school time is indeed questionable.
YouTube would fall into the gray area. While also with a social aspect (what Web 2.0 site isn’t) and videos on _any_ topic (but hey, there are warning for “mature” content and no NSFW material), there are also plenty of educational videos. I often refer to YouTube for supporting material to my own blog posts.
Wikipedia is a fantastic research tool. I don’t understand school’s obsessions with getting it banned/blocked. Kids don’t edit pages to “chat”. The off chance that a meaningful page will contain inappropriate edits are so slim precisely due to Wikipedia being a community edited project. Inaccuracies or not, it’s a great starting point for any research topic, and I feel that pros greatly outweight any negatives.
What about the rest of Web 2.0? Ban Digg because technology news are socially rated? Funny, but I’ve heard of school _districts_ having the site blocked.
What would be next? Would you agree with schools blocking access to this very blog, because I can leave a comment?
I am not taking a stance that schools should block content. It was interesting to me how the students went along with the idea of having material from these types of websites blocked with little fight. Sure, a couple of students ALMOST said that currently blocked sites such as MySpace, YouTube, or Wikipedia should be reevaluated; however, society hears or even sees content on these websites which is not suitable for a school environment and begins to apply pressure. The public doesn’t understand how this really does effect student education. Whether the public wants to admit it or not, this is what kids are “into” at this moment in time.
This blog is obviously allowed to be viewed for educational purposes. I understand that tomorrow the district could decide that what I am discussing and/or the content is not suitable for students. I totally agree with your response which states “pros greatly outweigh any negatives.”
I partially agree with you on this, but its a bit biased.