Sydney+R’s+2018+OpEd+Article

Foothill Technology High School. Technology is in our name. So why does our wifi run as slow as molasses on a regular basis? Why does the internet block important websites that restrict our ability to conduct thorough research? A few days ago a friend and I were trying to google something at lunch when we realized that google had been blocked. GOOGLE Foothill, really?



Currently for a bioscience project, we need to learn all about particular diseases; how they attack the victim, their genetic makeup, all of the above. I googled ‘how does the pneumonic plague kill its victim?’ and expected some nice and informational link s about the methods of infection. But what did I get? See the image to the left. I got that lovely restricted page we are all so used to seeing.

And I couldn’t help but wonder, why does the school do this? There was a law passed in 2000 called the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA)that required schools to restrict “pictures and material that are ‘obscene, child pornography, or harmful to minors’ on computers that are used by students under 17 years of age.” (The Atlantic) This is a very important act to our society, but the rules should not be so strict. I understand that children should not have access to pornography and social media outlets while at school, but the school system should have more freedom when it comes to other words. The schools need to realize that the words being blocked, are directly affecting our ability to efficiently research.

An Article from the New York Times said that students “complained how ‘absurd,’ ‘ridiculous,’ ‘stupid,’ ‘suffocating’ and ‘creepy’ they thought their school filters were.” For example, planned parenthood was blocked when writing an essay about birth control, and breast and sexual were blocked when talking about sexual abuse or breast cancer. (New York Times) The censorship on computers scans for 'bad words' and when they find them the red flag goes up. There is no context. If I am studying something for history about a mass murder,the KKK, or sexual abuse court cases, I should have access to research it. I am using the computers for educational purposes and the while the school is trying to protect me, they are really just wasting my time. Having to log out of a computer to switch to a personal account that isn’t restricted should take a minute, but when connected to the school wifi it can take 10. Even after that long process, the school blocks websites while on your personal email because of the aspect of our wifi.

So now while I'm sitting in class staring at the wall since I cannot research what I am there to research, I realize how effectively the school has managed to waste my time. So next time you are staring at the page blocked screen just remember.... the school is protecting you.

Sources I used:

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/27/learning/are-the-web-filters-at-your-school-too-restrictive.html https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/04/internet-filtering-hurts-kids/479907/