6 Wildcatter
Issue
Calallen
2010-2011
April 2011 Photos and Text by Calallen Publications
Inside:
News Page 2
Sports
Feature Page 3
Page 8
CAUGHT IN THE FILTER New Software Inhibits Learning
As technology is integrated into our education here at the high school, many students ironically find it harder to use. Students are becoming more and more familiar with computers and the Internet in today’s educational system, however, the present Internet filters seem to inhibit basic usage. “I could barely do any research on the school computers because every site I went to was blocked,” senior Ryan Boyce said. “Even though they were all educational sites.” Students are finding it overwhelmingly difficult to use computers in the school due to the new filter, known by the insidious name “Smooth Wall.” Many students claim that the filter is blocking websites that it should not be. “It makes it hard to use our time at school towards research,” senior Joe Chadic said. “There’s a lot of websites that I need to get on that are blocked by the school.” Teachers have also been battling the filter in search of legitimate information that the Internet holds. Many teachers have been frustratingly denied
access to valid websites. “I took my kids to the computer lab and spent half my time trying to deal with the fact that they could not access legitimate websites,” teacher Jennifer Borrer said. “It
wouldn’t even let me navigate within the Texas Legislative Site (because certain words were blocked).” Some argue that the act of censoring content on the Internet impedes a student’s ability to make his or her own decisions. It also goes against the basic principles that the school is not only teaching children classroom skills, but life skills and the responsibility of being an adult. “It seems to me that older students should have more latitude,” Borrer said. “The only way that we are ever going to teach children
By Reid Tompkins to function as adults is to give them the opportunity to prove that they can be adults in given circumstances.” Many organizations such as PeaceFire spend their time battling Congress on the legal basis of Internet filtering. Organizations like this argue that Internet filtering obstructs a student’s right to free speech. “The
school has the right to censor computers because it is their property,” government teacher Steve James said. “However, I don’t agree with stringent applications of the filter.” In the school’s defense, the purpose of the Internet filter is to protect the children from obscene or harmful material, protect the computers from harmful data, and protect the administration from a lawsuit. Also, schools must provide
Op/Ed Page 9
Entertainment Page 10
“Manufacturers have turned to programs that allow the system to “read” a page and attempt to categorize the site based upon the content. One example of this is the PETA website. Because the site appears to talk mainly about abusing animals, our new filter chose to block the site. Once this was brought to our attention we promptly categorized it in an acceptable category.” -- Bryan Brown, Head of Technology Calallen ISD and maintain an Internet filter in order to receive money granted to them by the federal government, according to the Children’s Internet Protection Act. “The filter is put in place because we are mandated by the Federal Law to follow the CIPA,” head of technology Bryan Brown said. “Additional reasons some sites may be blocked include teacher/ administrator requests to block sites that are abused by students during instructional time.” Half way through the year, our Internet filter quit functioning. This forced the technology department to install a series of filters until the current one was accepted. Because this filter was launched in the middle of our school year, it was subject to many imperfections and defects that the students were quick to point out.
“We understand the new filter has caused grief and we regret that has occurred,” Brown said. “New systems often take time to be configured correctly since every organization differs in their level of filtering. However, we also feel it is better to err on the side of caution.” Mr. Brown also added that whenever the technology department is made aware of a legitimate web site that is blocked, they immediately attempt to correct it. Students struggling with the filters should advise a teacher to inform the technology department of the problem. Though students and teachers fought with the Internet filters, the future seems bright. “A new policy being proposed by the Technology Department, if approved by the school board, will open up more categories to be allowed,” Brown said. “In the future, I fully expect that Internet blocking will be less stringent.”