Internet Censorship

How do we protect young children from accessing harmful and/or inappropriate pictures and information on the Internet without infringing upon the rights to legitimate information? It is a challenge that those in the education community are currenly dealing with.

Yes, young children (especially those in elementary school) need to be sheltered so that they do not accidentally access a site with inappropriate or sexual conduct. However, should every single site or program that contains key words that might be sexual or inappropriate be blocked? NO! Biology & human anatomy students are one good reason why it is not so easy just to block certain words.

Below is a screen capture from Google images of a search for " Martin Luther King Jr " - this is how it appears on my school computer due to the Internet blocking software they use. I checked at home and NONE of these pictures are inappropriate!

Entire programs, like the poster making Glogster, are blocked by districts because a student could search using the word "boobs" and a poster would appear. Fortunately there is an educational companion, but that costs $99 a year for 200 student accounts. Teachers and districts don't have money to sign up every student with a Glogster Edu account. And what about other great learning tools that do not have a companion site for students?

Is this really the responsibility of the districts to prevent entire sites - many that have educational technology that interests students - because a student might conduct an inappropriate search. Or is it the responsibility of the parents to teach their children how to use the Internet and what they should not be searching for, especially in school?

We all sign acceptable use agreements as students and staff members. Should that not be enough? I am completely okay with the blocking of legitimately inappropriate websites that deal with sexual conduct. But I question the infringement of students and staff members rights that happens with some of this blocking software that exists.

All blogs are blocked. So is You Tube. There is an override button for an hour if you are a teacher, but not for the students. There is so much legitimate content in blogs and on You Tube that we cannot access because a kid might choose to search for something inappropriate. What if I decided to create a blog just for my class. I could request the district to allow it, but should I have to? Facebook is not the enemy. It has legitimate educational uses, but because it is a social networking site, it is blocked.

Instead of a wholesale blocking as is currently done, we need to be taking the time to educate students on what is appropriate and inappropriate for an online environment. We cannot beat these 21st century technologies, so let us surrender to the fact that they exist and teach them the proper use. Students want to use this technology. If we can't beat them, then as educators we must join them!