Comments on: Are students responsible enough…

By: Lynn

Lynn — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:13:43 +0000

I do think that some students are responsible enough to be able to access those sites and yes there are good and bad things on them but th kids should be smart enough to not get in to the bad things. One thing that bugs me though is that just because one kids messes up everyone gets punished and that makes no sence why not punish the one that did it and leave the rest of them alone.

By: Kyle

Kyle — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 02:43:02 +0000

I partially agree with you on this, but its a bit biased.

By: Higgy

Higgy — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 19:05:06 +0000

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.”

By: Tony

Tony — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 06:36:27 +0000

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?