Web filters impede learning

Whether you’re working on a research project or reading academic journals at school, you’d often be faced with a blocked page. It’s frustrating to find sources for in-class assignments, especially when the site you’re trying to access is educational. Excessive amount of blocked information on the internet has become a problem with students and teachers because of restricted articles, resource pages and online materials, interfering with the ability to teach and learn. 

While keeping students safe, students should still have access to more educational web pages. One major problem with overblocking is that it wastes class time provided to students. Students spend more time researching unblocked articles and sources rather than general research. Students often put aside bibliographies and research as homework in class because of restricted access at school and available search engines like Gale not proving useful. 

In class, teachers often assign students with digital materials only to hear “The site is blocked.” Not only do students spend more time accessing unrestricted materials, teachers do as well. 

Students are also stripped of developing digital literacy because everything is already filtered for them. 

Education reporter Tara García Mathewson reported around 70% of students and teachers said web filters interfered with student assignments. 

School filters are meant to keep students safe, but it feels like they’re doing more harm than good. Too many web pages that should be accessible are blocked. If the school wants to protect students from inappropriate content, it should do so without restricting their educational resource materials. 

Students should feel comfortable with doing research at school, without being faced with barriers and reasons for procrastination instead. The district should still block web pages, but shouldn’t overrestrict resources for students and teachers.