Website blocked. Just about every student has seen this on his or her school laptop at least once. Here at Northwood, we as students are fortunate enough to be given a Mac laptop to take home all year for schoolwork. This is a great opportunity, especially for people who don’t own laptops at home.
Every year more and more websites are blocked from our laptops to limit distractions in our learning environment. Of course some students find Twitter or Pinterest more entertaining than chemistry or algebra class, so I understand why the school blocks these social media sites. The one thing I don’t understand is why they don’t unblock things after school hours. If they can unblock Gmail after school hours for the underclassmen, why can’t they unblock other websites too?
Unblocking social media websites after school hours has no affect on learning in the classroom because we’re not in class. So there is no excuse why it should still be blocked. We as students have grown up with technology and social media since we were in middle school or younger. Since we have used social media so much at such a young age it’s part of our daily routine that most of us can’t go a day without it.
Another key point is the number of students who do not have a personal laptop or computer at home. With the school laptop being their only access to social sites, having so many websites blocked makes things difficult. If sites were unblocked, people who stay after school can have access while they’re waiting to get picked up. Students could also message classmates on Facebook about an assignment at home if social sites were unblocked.
Having these websites unblocked can also reduce the amount of trouble students get in. Teachers have programs to see your laptop screen as well as the technology department. If you are caught on a website unrelated to what you are assigned, you can get written up for in school suspension or have your Internet taken away. The punishment is a little harsh, but this keeps students focused on learning, and the distractions out of the way. Fewer students who don’t have a personal laptop wouldn’t try so hard to get on during the day if they knew they could have access to it later.
In my eyes, this is a reasonable idea that can benefit a lot of students here at Northwood. All I’m asking for is a few hours in the day so I can upload pictures and make a status about whatever I’m doing. If the school can unblock Gmail during that amount of time, why can’t social media have the same?
–By Taylor Maloch