In my personal experience as a
student using the internet at school, all that the "forbidden site"
error signal succeeded in accomplishing was to ignite the curiosity for
transgression. This particular forbidden site, regardless of whether it was the home of truly useful information or not, began
to created a schism between life within and life outside of school.
Outside of the classroom, the student was free to investigate the
information that school deemed inappropriate. This schism is further
extended with the advent of today's 3G driven technology, creating a real
barrier between the student in school, and the information liberated citizen
outside the classroom. This problem I've confronted is the question of
how educators can create responsible digital citizens without simply blocking
their access to information. How can we harbor a self motivated sense of
heaviness in internet activities so that our students can acknowledge the
permanence of what is posted on the internet?
Perhaps our students need more
than an authoritative “safe” or “access denied” black and white scale. As for
most things, I believe the solution comes from being educated about the topic
and the permanence of our digital persona. The why in this scenario is more important than the firewall; If we can
teach our students that our persona on the internet is the same as who we are
on a day to day basis, meaning, there is no schism between our digital persona
and our physical self, than perhaps students will be more inclined to think
before posting anything on the internet, be it good or bad. The internet is a
highly useful tool which gives us equal and unlimited access to an infinite
amount of information, yet if it is not used in a constructive manner, can be
harmful and detrimental, especially to a young person who is not equipped with the
proper skill set to differentiate between what is acceptable and what is not.
I think this post is very interesting and also very true. Schools block websites, but not for the safety of students; it is because they do not want students to be on Facebook all day. While this may help in the short term, the students can simply go on their phones and get on any website anyway. There has to be a way to make sure students are fully focused in school, but by taking away their internet privileges it makes them more likely to find other ways to get on whatever websites they want.
ReplyDeleteI like what you are saying, Suzanne. This is intelligently written, but can you offer how we can address the "why" when referring to why we shouldn't navigate to specific websites? Because that to me is the real problem. Schools are responsible for a lot, nowadays, but should they be responsible for teaching children the "why?" What is the role of the parents?
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, I have to agree with Kaitlyn also. Firewalls are more likely imposed to keep kids from getting distracted, although blocking inappropriate material is of the utmost importance as well.