(Another) Filtering is bad article

[Diello]

Filtering Through « simfin

Opinions?

[Tyiell]

I don't care how many articles I see of this kind, I think internet filtering for students (and to a much lesser extent, staff) is a good thing.

An Example:

A while back our ISP very helpfully screwed up our internet connection in a way that meant nobody had internet or email of any kind for a day and a half. Cue teachers and students going ballistic. But. Go into an ICT classroom the day before the connection went down and they are studying web design. This means they have dreamweaver open and are copy pasting pictures of tinkerbell into the design view. And that is it. Go in the day the connection goes down, they just have blank rectangles where the pictures should go and they are actually filling in content and modifying layout (i.e. actually building a webpage). Then I happened to be in there when they noticed the internet connection was back online - and when one called out "Internet is fixed", as one the whole class minimised dreamweaver and started searching google images again. Back to timewasting.

Moral of the story: I was educated perfectly well without the use of the internet. I'm not saying don't have it at all, but IMO it is too heavily relied on, and is provides too much opportunity to waste time. Filtering does no harm at all. Plus, many businesses filter their internet to employees so it is something they will have to get used to in their careers, which is what school is designed to do for them in the first place...

[joe90bass]

Filtering Through « simfin

Opinions?

ironic..... Article is filtered out by Websense

[localzuk]

I keep seeing articles like this, and I heard it from someone who used to work in our LA. In an ideal world, with perfectly behaving kids, and with parents that don't hold the school teachers responsible for every stupid thing their kids do, sure, unfiltered access would be great. Blocking gets in the way of my life here far too often, but I know why its there.

The reality is very different to the ideal though. Kids who simply will not do what they're told. Parents that will take the head to court over tiny things. There has always got to be someone to blame - that's just how society works.

So, with such a blame culture, there is only one logical outcome - to prevent events occurring which could lead to blame being assigned to the school and its staff.

[joe90bass]

The reality is very different to the ideal though. Kids who simply will not do what they're told. Parents that will take the head to court over tiny things. There has always got to be someone to blame - that's just how society works.

So, with such a blame culture, there is only one logical outcome - to prevent events occurring which could lead to blame being assigned to the school and its staff.

Unfortunately you're right, and that's the way society has gone...

[GrumbleDook]

Pretty much agree with a lot of Simon's blog post ... been saying that purely using technology as the answer is the wrong way to do things for a while now Grumbledook Blogs » The Promised Post – how to annoy teachers, techies, LAs and RBCs in one go! .

[synaesthesia]

Slightly ironic, this very thing popped into my head and into a conversation I was having on IRC during the North Korea football match (what a shocker, eh!). So, as we do, went on to discuss and argue the joys of total filtering, fascism, communism, complete control over what the citizens were doing. The general consensus was it was all leading towards a fairly bleak future, with it only leading to harsher controls with little way back without complete anarchy. OK, so that's slightly larger scale than filtering internet to schools, but as has been said many a time in an ideal world, they would be taught right and wrong and apply that themselves. Exactly the same as they would with breaking the law, being naughty generally, etiquette and what-not. However, for whatever reason that doesn't appear to apply to computers or the Internet. I wonder if the tight controls in schools lead to more curiosity whilst not within the boundaries of that system - i.e. at home. Without doubt, some filtering is necessary, to make sure that nothing (or as little as practicable) damaging to the children is accessible but, IMHO, there should be a stronger element of human control, morals being taught instead of people being forced to accept control.

[PiqueABoo]

Problem is it that simfin blog says the standard "don't attempt to use tech to fix social issues", "better to teach kids to behave like [real] grown-ups" stuff that has been around since the very first commercial block-list and well before Carr et al started championing walled-gardens, but then undermines it a bit with what appears to be "but we'll try to do that anyway, just don't expect it to be perfect".

Dunno, it just all seems as [bleeping] obvious as it was in the 90's and gets us nowhere new. Personally I suspect the recent change of gov from that long-standing nanny-knows-best bunch will have a more (but not very big) significant effect than any of these debates/blogs/etc.

[localzuk]

Pretty much agree with a lot of Simon's blog post ... been saying that purely using technology as the answer is the wrong way to do things for a while now Grumbledook Blogs » The Promised Post – how to annoy teachers, techies, LAs and RBCs in one go! .

All looks good but there's one major hurdle in the way - the entrenched management in schools. How is anyone, be they techies, network managers, teachers, or rogue SMT members, supposed to develop this culture of responsibility? How do we get teachers to improve their classroom control (bearing in mind that doing this is actually a case of shifting the blame from a lowly technical person, onto the shoulders of a mighty teacher (yes, I used that language on purpose to portray the situation that exists in many schools))? How do we get the school to shift the methods of punishment regarding misuse of ICT resources from 'banning them from the computers' etc... to a holistic disciplinary system?

As I said earlier, it is very nice ideal to want all these things but in reality? Its like trying to pull the moon out of the sky.

[GrumbleDook]

@localzuk This is why so many people were glad to see the report from OFSTED that said management is better than straight blocking ... the onus is on the management and forces SMT/SLT to take ownership / control. If they don't then they risk being pulled up about it by OFSTED.

Let's face it ... SMT/SLT will needed reasons why it is good to do this ... they need it sold to them with things like better discipline, less confrontation with students, etc ...

[synaesthesia]

The infrastructure for this should have been in place already, but because of previous laziness/lack of forethought, it's probably too late to make a start in teaching netiquette and online responsibility.