The Act of censorship is deciding on what people are allowed to view within the media. Censorship within schools is something that should be done in moderation, although the government and board of education find it to be more sufficient to use censorship as a tool to block provocative websites. It would be more effective for staff members to have control over the websites in which students are allowed to access due to the fact that most blocked websites are beneficial for educational purpose.
It would serve as a faster and efficient way to determine what is censored within schools. Censorship is well needed within schools in order to assure that the minds of students are strictly focused on educational websites, but not to such an extreme. The amount of unnecessary censorship occurring is due to the software controlling it. The majority of the people agreed that there should be censorship on the internet but only when completely necessary. The internet is the most used resource in schools because it is a powerful and convenient tool for education.
Extreme censorship hinders students from being able to experience true learning online. The censoring of software is very firm about the material it blocks. The firmness of the software is the cause of educational material being censored and unavailable for children to use as a resource for school work. If a student tries to show something that is part of a presentation and it is blocked, the teacher types a password and everyone sees it, why should teachers not be in charge of what to teach? (Cunningham).
Students are often subjected to a limited amount of resources due to these filters put in place by the government. The machines’ software censor material that is not required by the law, such as the detecting of a word that is considered to be unbefitting. It’s important not to be heavy-handed when it comes to ensuring the Web is safe for children. Responsible parents and educators have decided that, at least in classrooms where teachers are present, it can be better not to filter out content behind the scenes (Hopper 06).
In this way, children can learn to take responsibility for making judgement about inappropriate content, and for immediately stopping and backing out any unsuitable webpage. Calling editorial standards “self-censorship” is no substitute for reasoned debate about corporate responsibility and appropriate content for services used by children. ” It’s up to parents to protect their children, and if some aren’t doing so, it’s not the rest of society’s responsibility to make up for it–or be punished with businesses’ self-censorship (Hooper). “The heavy-handed emplacements are simply unnecessary, and government censorship shouldn’t be allowed to be so strong and punish everyone for the actions of a small number of irresponsible individuals (Cunningham). ” However, neither should we tolerate it when undefiled children, who are minding their own business and conducting innocent online searches, are not only prevented from facing twenty first century challenges, but also from channeling their inner knowledge.
The law regarding censorship is very controversial because it is a direct violation of the “First Amendment of the Constitution, Congress Shall Make No Law Respecting an Establishment of Religion, or Prohibiting the Free Exercise Thereof; or Abridging the Freedom of Speech, or of the Press; or the Right of the People Peaceably to Assemble, and To Petition the Government for a Redress of Grievances (First Amendment). ” Censorship overall is technically going against the rules inside of the first amendment.
Censorship is beneficial, but should be lessened and controlled by a staff members rather than higher authorities such as the School board. According to the law the only websites that are required to be blocked within schools is those containing pornographic material. Sound curriculum development requires that educators with professional expertise decide which materials are educationally appropriate, consistent with the school district’s educational philosophy and goals and state law.
School officials also have the constitutional duty to ensure that curriculum development and selection decisions are not made with the aim of advancing any particular ideological, political or religious viewpoint (NCAC). Schools put filtering software in place as part of the requirement of the Children’s Internet Protection Act, a U. S. law passed in 2001 covering public schools and libraries (Wagner). The law states that filtering to protect children against “inappropriate” and “harmful materials” on the Internet is required.
Because of First Amendment restrictions, the law gives the United States government no supervisory authority over the nature of the filters. Censorship is The heavy-handed censorship filters are not favored by many people including teachers and students, but there are different ideas and plans on how the strictness of censorship can be reduced. One of the possible solutions is that teachers should be able to unlock blocked educational sites with a given password.
The overall solution requires the teachers and staff members to have a higher authority over the school internet. The teachers are the key to the problem because they have a job that requires them to gain trust with the students, meaning that they can observe the learning styles of each student, and decide what should and should- not be restricted to students. Have Quality teaching depends on the freedom to select materials and techniques.
Teachers and librarians/media specialists must have the right to select instructional material/ library materials without censorship or legislative interference (NEA). Staff members should be responsible for determining the content they give children permission to view when using the Web. Most young children are not looking for trouble, but are trying to navigate the Web for learning and fun. Every company providing Web services used by children as well as adults has editorial standards (Hooper).
Censorship is unnecessary if children can explore age-appropriate educational and entertaining Web sites, as long as companies don’t advertise sexual or violent material or links to any inappropriate material. The monitoring done by Staff members benefit the learning of the students by supplying the students with the resources that they need to learn and grow. By limiting resources and flexibility, censorship hampers teachers’ ability to explore all possible avenues to motivate and “reach” students (NCAC).
Even people whose professions involve witnessing the enforcement of internet filters have problems with the strict software. The filters that are forced upon students have a tendency to make the jobs of people with lower authority much harder than they should be. By imposing these filters it causes a disruption to others by having to find a way to bypass the filters by contacting high authorities. A school technology facilitator, Carolyn Adiko, made the point that one of the most reliable solutions would be to come up with compromise between the staff and software.
She pointed out that “Staff know what the students need and the people that manipulate the software have the knowledge of what damage going to a particular site might cause. It has to be a partnership between the staff and the software manipulation”. Censorship controlled by is considered to software would be the most reliable source but if software continues to monitor alone, then the input regarding which sites are restricted from students’ needs to be taken into considered by the government.
Censorship inside schools is topic that does needs more recognition and needs to be dealt with. The opinions of the teachers and students need to be taken into consideration and changes need to be made within schools throughout the country. The trust between staff members and higher authorities needs to be established. Once trust is established, there will be a faster and more efficient way to deal with censored school internet by having staff members oversee websites available to students. Come to my house party. Welcome to my house party
