Despite many students’ arguments, internet blocks at school are highly beneficial. While lots of students have good intentions, others do not. These blocks are put in place to keep students and teachers from purposefully or accidentally finding sites with restricted content that has been deemed inappropriate for school.

The district is not in fact losing money by implementing internet blocks. As a way of regulating internet usage at school, discounts are awarded in service fees. If a district chooses to receive the “E-rate discounts”, it is forced to implement blocks as declared in the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA).  This states that participating districts must block any material which is “obscene, [contains] child pornography, or harmful to minors.” Choosing not to abide by this law can cause legal trouble for the members involved.

Additionally, the blocks help keep students focused by removing games, social networking, and other distractions. Giving access to these types of sites encourages their use during class or study time. Teachers and students can benefit from the time they are spending to learn instead of wasting time. School is exclusively a place meant for receiving an education, therefore the district must establish limits on internet usage at school versus at home. For the most part, there have not been any blocks on sites that are frequently used in schools for educational purposes. The students are not being limited in their learning. Students can use their time outside of school to explore whatever they would like on the internet.

Overall, internet blocks remove risk of children being exposed to prohibited content for their ages. Its important to both teachers and parents that kids are protected both physically and mentally while attending school. Studies show that teachers agree that they would rather have internet blocks than the latter. The blocks don’t seriously inconvenience anybody and can be easily worked around.

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