Title: Unanticipated Extent of Online Censorship in Schools Unveiled by Recent Data
Fifteen-year-old Aleeza Siddique encountered obstacles while exploring Spanish language news broadcasting websites in her Northern California high school classroom earlier this year. Despite her teacher's attempts to navigate around the internet filter, students were unable to access the intended links, leaving them with few options, such as vocabulary lists and online quizzes, filling the remaining time.
The D.C.-based Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) recently released findings from its annual nationwide survey of teachers, parents, and high school students on various tech issues. According to this study, around 70% of both educators and students reported that web filters were hindering their ability to complete assignments effectively.
Previous investigations by the nonprofit, The Markup, discovered school districts implemented more extensive filtering than federal law required, often influenced by societal and political matters. This excessive blocking led to blocks on sex education and LGBTQ+ resources, including suicide prevention, and routine blocking of legitimate academic research websites.
Elizabeth Laird, the Director of Equity in Civic Technology for CDT and the report's lead author, credited The Markup's reporting as inspiration for incorporating questions in the survey to better comprehend how schools were relying on filters for subjective, unchecked censorship.
Students encounter filters more frequently when they conduct substantial research, particularly through their school computers. Aleeza faced this issue particularly in her debate class. An article she wanted to access from Slate magazine led to a blocked screen because the entire website is blocked due to its content, as reported by The Markup.
Three-quarters of the surveyed teachers acknowledged that students employed workarounds to bypass the filters to access unrestricted internet access. Laird was surprised by this figure, which called into question whether web filters were effective in preventing access to unwanted websites while potentially complicating the teaching process.
Opposing views emerged amongst the surveyed teachers regarding filtered content related to the LGBTQ+ community, sexual orientation, and reproductive health. Findings revealed that approximately one-third of students believed content associated with immigrants faced disproportionate blocking.
Aleeza shared her frustration at the arbitrary nature of the blocks. Transparency about the blocked content, she felt, was a basic right, which her school should have provided. The incessant policing and interference with her education were concerns that resonated with her.
This article, first published on The Markup and later republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license, highlights the inconsistencies and frustrations surrounding web filtering in schools. Overblocking and the need for adaptive filtering solutions that account for students' constantly evolving needs and learning requirements continue to be pressing issues affecting students and educators.
In the future, schools might consider implementing adaptive filtering technologies to better cater to students' learning needs and prevent overblocking of academic resources. The extensive use of tech workarounds by students suggests that current web filters may not be effectively preventing access to unwanted content while also complicating the teaching process.