youtube

[gwendes]

What is the point of technology if you cant use it? MySpace I can agree with since it is on my "no show" list but our students would cry if they could not go to YouTube.

 

And I fear you may be the one crying when it gets back to a parent that they can access inappropriate material... just takes one and you are providing something on a par with flamethrowers and scapels.

 

You can't say you agree with MySpace being blocked but not YouTube - both (and others) or nothing - otherwise you're hypocritical.

 

Why do children not work with mercury in Science lessons - the educational merits of a liquid metal are huge but it's toxic so probably best to remove from the classroom- don't you think?

 

Think of your poor internet connection and other users...

[enjay]

Speed isn't an issue for us, our students well-being is. Sadly to say, some selection process should have been put in place to ensure YouTubes content is appropriate for ages of 12+.

Paul is 100% correct there. I am not disputing that YouTube contains some valuable educational resources (a number of our teachers have used videos from it) however it also contains a huge amount of completely inappropriate material.

 

As there is no way of moderating which bits of the site can and can't be seen, we unfortunately have to take the blanket approach of blocking the whole site.

[roland]

Hi,

 

My comments earlier are were truly in jest, the internet is such a vast resource and I work and move in a community which is quite conservative and I am forever getting requests from parents and teachers to ban this and stop that, it troubles me sometimes, that everyone reaches for the handbrake.

 

All the while the internet is only a fraction of what it is going to be in the future. Social networking, convergence, communities like this and others, like Second Life .... I could go on forever, we are at the tip of the ice berg, and half of it is already banned!

 

Kids should be taking technology home, not bringing it to school and by this I mean our school computers should be bigger, better, faster, more software, more bandwidth. We should truly be teaching our students how to use computers and facilitating staff and teachers, and opening up the www and teaching how to use these tools, safely, easily, to broaden horizons and in increase opportunities .....

 

Social responsibility is so important, and teaching empowered students to be responsible is better then dis-empowering students. (I think).

 

I have four kids and every reason to be careful of what they view and see and (thus far) I have refused to put parental controls, net nannies in place. I think it is important that they learn how to be truly responsible and grow up to be mature and responsible like us. ... err, perhaps not :-)

 

best regards

Roly

[enjay]

I have four kids and every reason to be careful of what they view and see and (thus far) I have refused to put parental controls, net nannies in place. I think it is important that they learn how to be truly responsible and grow up to be mature and responsible like us. ... err, perhaps not :-)

How about enabling the filters and explaining why you've done it? We educate the students in safe use of the Internet - chat rooms, what not to put on your MySpace profile, etc - but still block these sites in school.

 

I'm not a parent myself, but I would be very angry if my children's schools played hideous videos from YouTube and then said "here's how to avoid seeing those", or gave them graphic details of exactly what a child molester might do to them during a "stranger danger" lesson. Inform them, educate them, but also shelter them as far as is possible.

[plock]

How about enabling the filters and explaining why you've done it? We educate the students in safe use of the Internet - chat rooms, what not to put on your MySpace profile, etc - but still block these sites in school.

 

I'm not a parent myself, but I would be very angry if my children's schools played hideous videos from YouTube and then said "here's how to avoid seeing those", or gave them graphic details of exactly what a child molester might do to them during a "stranger danger" lesson. Inform them, educate them, but also shelter them as far as is possible.

 

Spot on...

[MkII]

Agreed NickJones

 

What if a child accidentally comes across unsuitable material? I don't like it when my own kids get to see snippets of bad stuff by accident on the telly. I use Skys' parental controls to block sky channels - it's the same thing. They're too young to know for themselves. As kids get older we can review those restrictions. As an adult I have personal control that governs my actions.

 

I am truly sick to the back teeth of hearing from certain teachers about taught responsibility.

[Geoff]

I'm sorry, but with all the filtering and parental controls in the world there are still things that get through. They are a poor substitute for classroom management in school setting or parental supervision at home.

[MkII]

Parental Supervision + Classroom Management go hand in hand with content filtering - you shouldn't ever have one without the other.

[Geoff]

You need to tell that to our teachers.

[Jake]

You need to tell that to our teachers.

 

And to the ones at our place who show 18 certificate DvDs at the end of term

[plock]

And to the ones at our place who show 18 certificate DvDs at the end of term

 

Surely not... that's awful! I've not known that before...

[Andi]

Surely that's illegal for a start!

[Jake]

Indeed, my thoughts precisely. Nevertheless, they still show them, as an example, one of the films is Hollowman. Now ok...its a very tame 18, probably more of a 15 film I would say (maybe even a 12 these days), but point is that it carries an 18 certificate.

 

I guess they figure that its near the end of term, and they dont care what the students watch as long as it keeps them quiet and doesnt have the kids creating hassle for the day

[Geoff]

It's covered under the Video Recordings Act 1984 and the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. It's a criminal offence to show works classified with an 18 certificate to children under the age of 18.