Internet Restrictions At Work

USA Today recently published an article by Greg Toppo titled, "Web restrictions draw ire of some educators," about putting limitations and even bans on some school computer accessibility.  It's understandable, especially these days, how some sites are obviously inappropriate for school and home. But banning teachers from Google images and National Geographic? Are we going too far? What about prohibiting teachers from being on social networking sites like Facebook, or accessing personal email?

I will admit, I did find it somewhat uncomfortable when I heard  my friend tell me how she can see her child's teacher's Facebook page. I'm not sure how I'd feel knowing what my teacher did the night before she came to class. That being said, like Greg Toppo has written in this piece, the Internet is not going away. Children should be taught how to safely use the worldwide Web. They need to be made aware of the pros and cons of having social network accounts. They need to be taught that just because it's on the Internet doesn't necessarily make it true. And they need to be given the tools to know how to fact check. But it's got to be a joint effort between parents and educators alike.

It can be frustrating, feeling like we have enough resource limitations as it is, now we can't visit a web page we want. I'm not sure what the solution is, but again we are reminded of how technology truly does change the way we educate and live.