Over the past few months, the student body has been subjected to many policy changes: websites have been blocked and certain applications no longer open. In response, there has been considerable outrage, demonstrated by means ranging from word of mouth to contact with the tech office. However, these policies do not warrant such a reaction.
Most obviously, each student and their family signed a contract upon receiving a school device, stating that they would follow the acceptable-use guidelines. The vast majority of blocked websites only ensure that students have no mechanism of violating these guidelines. There is no reason to complain about Minecraft being blocked; these devices do not belong to students.
As always, however, the devil lies in the details. There are a number of websites that have been caught in the crossfire, being blocked despite serving a solely beneficial purpose, including Github and certain news sites. This may seem like a negative, but in reality it serves as a lesser of two evils. It is clear that bad websites must be blocked, or else students will continue misusing school devices, and there are two methods of achieving this goal: a whitelist, where a certain list of websites are the only sites allowed to be visited, or a blacklist, where a certain list of websites are blocked. Broadly, the system that PHS is currently using functions more similarly to a whitelist, where only certain categories of websites are allowed to be visited. Websites get blocked when they are mischaracterized.
The alternative to this would be a blacklist, where the school would need to explicitly list every website that ought to be blocked. This approach obviously would not work as students would create new websites to evade these bans, or they would find new websites that the administrators were unable to find to block. Essentially, a blacklist creates a game of cat-and-mouse, where the tech office is overwhelmed and occupied by constantly looking at student usage to find new websites to block while students keep finding new sites; in fewer words, a waste of time for students and administration alike.
What’s the drawback with the whitelist? Certain websites get blocked. Fortunately, there is a very simple solution: any incorrectly blocked website can be unblocked with a simple-to-submit tech ticket. Yes, this responsibility falls on the teachers, but it’s preferable to having students distracted during lessons. As you may have noticed, Github is unblocked as of writing this article, because resolving conflicts doesn’t have to be difficult.
Fine, maybe blocking the websites isn’t the problem. It’s the way that it’s done. Students cite a lack of communication as the issue, but the current system is the best one. Is the school expected to reveal their plans to the student body, explain their desire to prevent them from misbehaving, and then accept their input? There is nothing useful that students could provide before the implementation.
Maybe it’s the inconsistency? What problems does the inconsistency realistically present? Anyone using their computers correctly is largely unaffected by new policies, and if anything arises, it’s resolved by just one tech ticket.
It’s okay to make a ruckus when the school does something wrong; there’s no need to create a stir about them doing something right.