Last week New Canaan High School in Connecticut cut off all web access to Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
It was just for a day.
It was a protest.
Students at NCHS have access to social networking sites, the same as we have access to CNN or Google, but they turned off Twitter and Facebook at their school in protest...in protest on behalf of students who don't have access to social media at school.
Students like you.
More and more the debate on education is ranging towards whether or not districts have the right to block student access to the Web. Students and teachers from around the country are mobilizing, writes the New York Times, arguing in favor of more access.
What do you think? Do you appreciate the New Canaan High protests? Would learning improve at SCHS if we had access to Twitter and Facebook, or would it just be another distraction?
Leave your comment below (+5 points).
It was just for a day.
It was a protest.
Students at NCHS have access to social networking sites, the same as we have access to CNN or Google, but they turned off Twitter and Facebook at their school in protest...in protest on behalf of students who don't have access to social media at school.
Students like you.
More and more the debate on education is ranging towards whether or not districts have the right to block student access to the Web. Students and teachers from around the country are mobilizing, writes the New York Times, arguing in favor of more access.
What do you think? Do you appreciate the New Canaan High protests? Would learning improve at SCHS if we had access to Twitter and Facebook, or would it just be another distraction?
Leave your comment below (+5 points).
If access were granted to the sites, without being monitored, then yes it would be a distraction but could also be used as a strong ally to the teachers and bring their teaching styles to better connect with the students. -Brad McCorkle
ReplyDeleteI think SCHS should allow student to use Facebook or twitter.What if students dont have cell phones and they need to contact to a parent and dont have time to go to the attendance office to call them. Facebook and twitter is another good way to contact anybody. Plus it's not fair that other states get to have access to facebook or twitter and Tn does not. I do not see what is so bad about it. It's also good with education purposes because if someone needs to talk to a project partner during the school day facebook is the best way. Specially since school excepts internet access but no cell phones.
ReplyDeleteSam Ottinger : I think that schools should not limit what sites students can access. It's a wall blocking students from exploring certain websites that they might need for projects. I agree that students should not have access to Facebook and other social networking sites because that can be a distraction to school work. The fact that images are blocked is pretty ridiculous, teachers need to trust in the maturity of high schoolers and allow us some freedom on the internet. The Department of Education’s Director of Education Technology said, "What we have had is what I consider brute force technologies that shut down wide swaths of the Internet, like all of YouTube, for example. Or they may shut down anything that has anything to do with social media, or anything that is a game." If directors of schools are agreeing that some sites should not be blocked, then we should do something about it.
ReplyDeleteLink where quote was located:
http://mindshift.kqed.org/2011/09/dispelling-myths-about-blocked-websites-in-schools/
Yes I do. I think that if you let kids and teenagers show you how they learn the best, then it would help out. That was wrong for them to take away the things that make teens and kids happy. The more things you take away from them, the more that they will resent you and them. I think learning would improve if they would let them show them what they can do. I hope the protest goes about how it is supposed to play out.
ReplyDeleteReggie Drennon