Internet Filtering
Schools filter a range of inappropriate web material for a number of reasons:
Often game sites are blocked because they are perceived to be "bad" for
children. Computer games are no more "bad" than are free reading, chess or
outdoor games. They are inappropriate things to be playing when other work needs
to be done but they are no more deserving of banning than free reading, chess or
outdoor games.
Internet filtering is problematic, there are always inappropriate sites that
slip through and valuable sites which are banned. It seems that in the order of
20% of inappropriate sites slip through filters and in the order of 20% of
benign sites are blocked. It seems that internet filtering is driven by the need
for schools to be seen to be doing something rather than by the benefits it
gives.
To quote a few sources:
"Filtering is anti-educational in its explicit manifestation because it
prevents students from accessing certain materials that they might find
important, interesting, and relevant to their learning. Perhaps more important,
filtering is anti-educational in its implicit messages about what adults think
about education; it promotes a notion of education steeped in the importance of
obedience and acquiescence, while compromising opportunities for independent
student questioning and discovery. It manifests a distrust for students and in
many cases an exaggerated sense of their vulnerability. As a result, filtering
operates counter to what students need to learn in school to discern,
discriminate, synthesize, and evaluate. How can students learn to be
responsible, to make good social and intellectual choices, if those choices are
made for them by filtering the information they can and cannot access? It is
difficult to teach young people self-control and judgment by denying them access
to those things about which they need to exercise judgment."
"Deep knowledge and understanding, creativity, critical thinking,
discernment, wisdom, and judgment are not about the accumulation of facts. They
are about grasping the relationships between ideas, information, ethics, and
culture. When students search the Internet, the sites they go to are not simply
destinations; they are steps on the path to further discovery. When one door is
closed, entire hallways of further doors may be closed off as well"
Just Give It To Me Straight: A Case Against Filtering the
Internet, T. A. Callister, Jr. Whitman College Nicholas C. Burbules University
of Illinois" http://faculty.ed.uiuc.edu/burbules/papers/straight.htm
"four popular filter programs failed to block objectionable Internet
content 25% of time"
"In a study Utah public schools and libraries, ... found that the program
incorrectly blocked non-objectionable web pages 5% of the time"
"research into over-filtering has found that filters incorrectly block benign
material 21% of the time"
"The survey work and filter effectiveness studies I have just cited, lead me
to conclude that software filters and Internet content rating systems, at least
as they are currently configured, are not the optimal solution for protecting
children from harmful Internet material. Filters and Internet rating systems are
a seductively simple solution which promise to solve a long standing problem by
simply installing a piece of software. It is my contention however that complex
social problems can not be reduced to lines of code. Rather, social problems
call for social solutions, and in my mind the most effective and contextually
sensitive filtering and rating system ever devised is a concerned parent taking
the time to surf the Internet with his/her child."
http://www.cse.ogi.edu/~mpj/ifc/ifcReport.pdf the appendix,
Christopher D. Hunter's testimony to the COPA Commission :
"Most of the schools that the committee visited had installed filters, and
many libraries had done so as well. However, when asked what benefit filters
offered their schools and libraries, teachers and librarians invariably pointed
to the political and management benefits--not a single teacher or librarian said
that his or her students or patrons were better off with filters in place"
http://books.nap.edu/html/youth_internet/
"filter programs meant to block pornographic content on public computers
blocked as much as 25% of health-related web sites when the filter was set to
its most restrictive setting"
http://oncampus.richmond.edu/connect/issues/health/health-gen.html
"we believe that ... Employ(ing) Minimal/Zero Filtering System and Use(ing)
Comprehensive Curriculum/Educational Materials Dealing with Digital Conduct
(e.g., slander, copyright, spamming, flaming, hate groups, pornographic
materials) deserves ... highest consideration"
http://coe.ksu.edu/bailey/filterpaper.pdf
nonscholae.org is a site devoted to the responsible use of blogs, photosharing, podcasts, web hosting, educational games, instant messaging and other social software in schools. Our students want to be web authors, create content and take part in distributed conversations, not just web consumers. Non scholae sed vitae discimus We learn, not for school, but for life - Seneca, Epistulae We believe that these tools and resources should not be blocked or banned from schools.