More and more sites on the school issued chromebooks are being blocked, but are these all fair?

Many sites are blocked for good reason: sites that contain adult content, games or pertain to illegal activities. These things should all be blocked on school chromebooks, and are, rightfully so.

However, there are a good amount of sites that are blocked that students can make a case against. For instance, some videos on YouTube are blocked on school computers. While it can be said that this is for the best, as free access to millions of entertainment based videos could be distracting to a student in a learning environment, there is a case to be made otherwise.

YouTube has a plethora of educational videos that teachers could use in everyday class to further enhance teaching and to get students more interested, but are forced to only show them on the SmartBoards – or in a very limited selection – because of the blockage on student Chromebooks. On top of this, if a student does distract themselves, it is only affecting their grades, not anyone else’s.

Many websites are also blocked from our Chromebooks.

Many city newspaper cites, as well as larger news corporations, specifically NBC are all blocked on our computers. While there can be cases to be made for this as well, as students could be exposed to bias through these sites, and news that is inappropriate for school, like YouTube, other cases can be easily made. It is a hassle to request teachers request access to solid media sources.

Students in current events classes, or who are doing research on a relevant topic have a good amount of sites that contain good information cut off from their usage on their school issued computers.

There are plenty of other news sites unblocked on our Chromebook that have been accused of bias, and run the same stories as the others, such as CNN. 

On the flip side of that, however, all websites can be made unblocked with a request from a teacher. If a teacher needs a website for a class, the request can be sent in, and the website, if deemed worthy, can be unblocked. 

With that being said, some of these websites should see second opinions, as not only could they be beneficial, but they could enhance our everyday learning in classes.