[LINK] Survey Finds Support for School Filters (USA)

[richard@auscoms.com.au]

>The students don't bother to use the internet much while at 
>school.  
<obtuse>
So what?
</obtuse>

Oh yeah, I know, the Internet is the Font of Knowledge. Also, by the spams I
get, the font of eternal youth, virility, wealth and sexual potency. But really,
if the kids are using it at home, just what's the problem? Are there _no_ other
curriculum activities that matter? Is there any evidence to suggest that it
matters a two-bobs'-worth whether a child's understanding of science comes from
a copy of Hawking's History of Time or from the fully-interactive Java-enabled
"Time is Fun!" Website? 

Also Mark, remarks like:
>School staff struggle to know when the students are having a quick smoke
>behind the toilet block; much less give an accurate assessment of the
>effect of censorship on student's internet usage.
...probably don't enhance anybody's cred as a commentator on education. Don't
tell me, you actually thought you put one over the teachers in high school? That
because you thought you got away with something meant nobody knew?

I mean, simultaneously you're saying that censorware inhibits education, but at
the same time, you seem to hold the deliverers of that education in contempt ...
were it so, then how did the kids get into an "academically gifted" environment?
Osmosis? Auto-didacticism? Spontaneous combustion?

Which is my real point. Bill Gates does an international sales job on "study PCs
or be left behind", and we deny resources to teachers so we can have boxes on
desktops. Schools with PCs = status; schools with lots of teachers = dumps.
Humbug!

Richard



____________________Reply Separator____________________
Subject:    RE: [LINK] Survey Finds Support for School Filters (USA)
Author: effectivebusiness@pplications.com.au
Date:       19/10/00 9:48

> Why are some linkers in denial re this?

Probably because your 'opinion' that it works well, is contradicted by
the opinion of others (such as my two schoolchildren and their
friends) that it causes such problems with slow response times and
blocking of sites that they don't bother trying to use the internet at
school.

My daughter is in year 9 in a NSW 'academically selective' public high
school.  The students don't bother to use the internet much while at
school.  My son is in year 7 at our local NSW public high school.  He
doesn't use the internet at school.  Why do so when they can get
better response times and access to all the net while at home?

A detailed study of school students by an outside organisation to find
out:

* how much they use the internet at school, and for what purposes
* how much they use the internet at home, and for what purposes

is the only way to really come to grips with what's actually going on,
and the real effects of things like censorship, as well as bandwith /
access speeds, etc.  I have a low opinion of school staff providing an
accurate assessment of how censorship really affects students.  School
staff struggle to know when the students are having a quick smoke
behind the toilet block; much less give an accurate assessment of the
effect of censorship on student's internet usage.

BTW, my son's high school has just completed a survey of all their
students.

83% of the students use computers at home
80% of the students use internet access at home

If the home internet penetration rate of students at this public high
school is 80% today, its difficult to think that in 6 or 12 months it
won't be up in the 90%-100% range.

Here's a proposition that someone can test with some research if
they're game - I'll bet that for virtually ANY school in Australia
(excepting of course geographically remote areas - sorry but I haven't
swallowed Telstra's marketing bumph about the great access they have
given schools in the bush):

"Whether primary or secondary, private or public, the sum of the hours
per week spent on the internet by all the students while at school is
less than the sum of the hours per week spent on the internet by all
the students when at home"

If all the students access the internet from home, the issue of the
school system trying to censor the students becomes, ahh, dare I say
it......'academic'.


Regards, Mark

Mark Hughes
Director
Effective Business Applications Pty Ltd
effectivebusiness@pplications.com.au
www.pplications.com.au
+61 4 1374 3959

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-link@www.anu.edu.au [mailto:owner-link@www.anu.edu.au]On
> Behalf Of stephen loosley
> Sent: Thursday, 19 October 2000 02:25
> To: link@www.anu.edu.au
> Subject: Re: [LINK] Survey Finds Support for School Filters (USA)
>
>
> David Goldstein wrote:
>
> > Dhavan Shah, assistant professor of journalism and mass
> > communications at the University of Wisconsin at Madison who
> > says: "I was surprised by the level of support for
> filtering programs
> > and the level of support for these access programs," he said.
>
> Imho a number of linkers may be surprized at the local edu support
> for filtering.  Quite simply, it works, and works well for
> schools, and
> has been working for years. Why are some linkers in denial re this?
>
> Across the many .au school sys-admin lists one rarely reads of any
> problems with our Vic local or central, web & email
> filtering systems.
>
> Indeed as noted below, the first Internet-filter
> work-around technique
> since Victorian school Internet-filtering began (& which
> came to light
> today & is currently being patched), has been the only real concern.
>
> Please, can we tighten-up future filtering debates on link
> to just refer
> to business & home access? It works, and works well in Vic schools
> and has for two years .. to argue otherwise is a waste of
> linker's time.
> If linkers wish to debate au school-filters further, do
> visit a school first.
>
> --
> Date: Wed, 18 Oct 2000 11:48:36 +1100
> From: Mark Kelly <kel@mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au>
> X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.75 [en] (Win98; U)
> To:  edunet@schools.net.au
> Subject: [EduNet] Warning: security hole
>
> I have advised Schoolsnet of a major security hole I have
> discovered.
> They have confirmed it exists and are trying to fix it ..
> it allows students
> to bypass most site blocks, both central and local.
>
> Just be on the lookout for students entering anything *in
> front of* a
> normal URL.  Check your logs carefully to see if obviously
> banned sites
> are being visited. It's just that once one kid discovers
> it, it will be statewide
> pretty soon.  Be careful out there!
>
> Mark Kelly    mark@nylon.net
> Computer Systems Manager, McKinnon Secondary College
> Webmaster http://www.mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au http://nylon.net
> Disclaimer:  Any errors in spelling, tact, or fact are transmission
> errors.
> --
>
> Cheers all ..
> Stephen Loosley
> www.stephen.ws
>
>