Website Blocking in Schools

Is it truly necessary for schools to block even half the sites they block?

Social media is a very important part of many people's lives, and yet sites such as Facebook and most blog and email services are blocked. If the prime focus of school is education, why do they try to hide the world from them? Children don't know how to stay safe and responsible on the internet if their prime educators completely ignore the existence of the most visited websites.

Social media is also a prime source for research. If you're doing a research project on some of the big names in anything these days, they will likely have a fan page on Facebook, and likely run it themselves. What's better then reading directly from the person you're researching, rather then some biography written by someone who interviewed them maybe once or twice? If you're lucky enough, you could even get a direct answer for a few of your own questions.

Speaking of research, I notice one of the categories of blocked websites is "Music Appreciation". Websites for magazines like Rolling Stone are blocked for this. Rolling Stone has been a great way to find the back story on groups that made it to one of the many Hall of Fames in Music. Why a site like that should be blocked is beyond me.

In most cases, blocking these websites is really just a distraction in schools. Students just spend more time finding ways around it, and most of what the teacher is saying falls on distracted ears. You might argue that giving students their websites back would be a bigger distraction then blocking them, but just knowing you can get to the website without a problem makes it far less likely that they'll actually visit the websites.

I suppose my next project at my High School is to get these sites unblocked. I'll explain what my first project will be another day. I will give you a hint though. Ever wonder what it would be like to see a Health class check the the nutritional value of school lunch?