right now i'm using the pc at my school and it is heavly blocked. no games, no forums (i know what your thinking), and even at one point they tries to ban google. you can't do anything on them in your free time! i'm out of some classes at the moment to have a bit of rest from the stress but i can only go on educational sites. what do you think about bans?

During my final high-school years not too long ago, my school became extremly heavy-handed and essentially blocked just about every possible website. We had to use a government provided education information site, which was completly lacking in many areas. We couldn`t even look up legitimate news or scientific sites that posed no threat to young minds. We could literally only do research from home. Obviously this didn`t last long and although many legitimate sites that could be used for educational purposes were blocked many were re-opened. However I do understand the policy as many students did use the net for gaming and chatting when they were meant to be working.

stress at your age, you dont know what stress is my friend. you still live in happy land

ours whats so bad this site was blocked

funnily enough this site is the only forum not banned, i think. they didn't even try to ban it. and to think, i found this site through the game kitten cannon that was banned, i tryed to search for it and it found a topic on this site,lol!

Parental controls are incredibly annoying and uneffective.

Search "proxy" in Google, click on a few of the results until you find one which isn't blocked. Proxies let you get passed all of the filters.

This site might be helpfull to you http://proxy.org/cgi_proxies.shtml

damn the system!!!!!

<<WARNING: Parental Comment Looming>>

But.... aren't you supposed to be doing educational stuff in school? Why have access to non-educational internet stuff at all. Heck, why have free access to the internet? We didn't even have computers when I went to school and learned just fine.

He said it was in his own free time at school. Anyway, while I was at school the IT classes were a joke. "Use Excel to copy the spreadsheet, average the totals" blah blah.

Seriously, video games are more productive than the work provided.

Well, my comment was a bit tongue in cheek, but why does he have 'his own free time' at school? Why do you have free time at school? Take a class.

Maybe they just do things different these days - or wherever the OP is from.

I teach extra-cirricular classes at our local high school (I detest public schools, didn't send my own kid to any school until college, but I teach in hopes of offering kids something more than what school can offer). Luckily, my district blocks porn, and other really questionable sites, but other than that they leave it mostly open. By-in-large, they implement the same blocks that any corporation would for their employees.

I think this is largely because a huge number of kids that attend these high schools around me have parents that work in the computer industry; Microsoft, Nintendo, Sierra, Amazon, Real Networks, etc... The parents have no fear of their kids misusing or falling across information that might damage their little psyche's. Their computers are open at home, therefore the parents don't see why they shouldn't be open at school too. Parents have applied pressure to the districts to keep them as open as is smart. It's worked well.

yea my High School Braught in the whole Laptop program 2 years before i graduated almost eveery single website was banned which never made snese to mebecause why have laptops if you cant do reserch or do really anything on them...

my theory? to steal money from the students at my high school to get a laptop you had to pay $100 down payment then a $50 internet fee

then every 2 months a $40 Maintnence fee and if it crashed or got damaged or obtained a viruse you had to pay a $300 fee

which by the way seemed like a Scam because they were OSX Operating system and they crashed all the time

also my senior year they started forcing students to obtain a Laptop which i was unable to attend graduation because i would not Buy a Laptop

When I was 14...that was...well over 10 years ago...my parents put an internet block on their PC using one of the earlier programs. Even at that age with my LIMITED IQ I was able to click Tools, Options, Disable. Tee-Hee!

Parental controls are a joke.

Just do what my uncle did an give your kids free reign over the internet and let them browse the most perverse and disturbing sites on the net. Didn't mess me up, did it? "Goodbye horses..."

the whole point of free time is to relax (in my case it is) and I can't relax while learning

i think filters are fantastic... but i agree that schools sometimes ban stuff that they shouldn't. I have a filter on mine atm....

In regards to schools it is a no brainer that the internet should be used only for educational purposes only. Internet blocks on forums, games, youtube, and other unproductive and uneducational content is reasonable. Internet at schools is only there because it is supposed to be an educational resource so blocking content that is not educational is by all mean acceptable.

If kids want to surf the net for entertainment purposes they can do this at home or at a library not during school hours. Your at school to learn not have fun simple as that. You may not like it but that's just the way it is and the way it should be. Besides who says you can't have fun learning on educational websites.

In regards to parents blocking content I believe that they are within their rights to as well. For example blocking porn and websites that contain highly questionable content etc. as well as unmoderated chat rooms etc.

Besides there are other things you can do in your free time at school like socialize, or indulge in other activities you enjoy whether it be art or sports etc.

You really can't hold it against a school for blocking non educational content since the schools primary function is to educate not entertain.



Perhaps you shouldn't have any free time at all since you go to school to learn and not have fun all the time. Perhaps you could do something else with your free time like art or sports or whatever else you like to do.

Kids in school have no basis for claiming that it is unfair that the school does not allow entertainment to help them relax. Remember you are in school on their terms not yours so if you really don't like it you can drop out. You are there to LEARN not have fun and relax, you can do this after or before school hours....