When students get bored, some may play games. However, when they try to play games, they often encounter a screen stating they don’t have access. In addition to games, informational and educational sites such as YouTube and now even Duolingo are blocked.

The school has long controlled what websites we have access to, and most sites blocked are better off being blocked, such as Wikipedia and other school-inappropriate sites. Besides these sites being blocked, YouTube is a key resource for high school students enrolled in Northwest College. 

“I feel like a lot of our classes incorporate YouTube,” senior Kenna Cannon said. “But I can’t use my laptop at all, so I was stuck on my phone, but I can’t use my phone, so I had a lot more homework than I usually would.” 

YouTube is a critical tool used in many online courses offered by NWC, but students who use school-provided Chromebooks aren’t able to open YouTube, leading to increased homework. Although YouTube has been banned to prevent students from wasting time, not all students would abuse this power.

“I can understand why they’re doing it,” junior Justin Dusenberry said. “But they’re punishing people who haven’t done anything wrong.”

YouTube is a powerful tool that can be used for a multitude of reasons, but Duolingo, a purely educational tool, is also getting banned within the next few weeks. While the reason is unknown for the app’s banning, students and some teachers are not happy with this decision.

“I use [Duolingo] as a review tool,” Spanish teacher Mr. Preator said. “It would be hard to come up with something else that would be as equally useful as Duolingo is.” 

Duolingo is a tool frequently used in Spanish class on Fridays to help students refresh their memories of past concepts and learn new ones. It is most often used on Fridays when the students do not have enough time to complete a full assignment.

“I know Duolingo got shut down,” Dusenberry said. “I know Mr. Preator uses that for his classes, but a lot of it is just you can’t get work done.”

Many other apps and websites, besides YouTube and Duolingo, that students find beneficial to their learning are also being banned. Students were once allowed to listen to music on their laptops, but that ability has also been removed. 

“The school gets so loud out here,” Cannon said. “And music is like how I concentrate when I’m taking notes.”

Many students use Spotify to listen to music and focus on schoolwork. They were once allowed to wear headphones in the commons, but that is no longer allowed unless it is for a college class. Students can ask for permission to watch certain videos, but they are finding it more difficult than expected to do so.

“It’s such a hassle to go to the admin,” Dusenberry said. “Because you have to remind them because sometimes they forget.”

While most apps are banned to protect students and teachers from misusing their laptops, students have constantly found ways to abuse their technology by going around the school’s protections.

“[Students will] always find a way,” Preator said. “We can ban every game site out there and they’re going to find a way.”

Although website bans are in place to protect us, with the number of educational apps being outlawed, such as YouTube, Duolingo, and possibly Quizlet, students are tempted to ask, is this really helping?

“I think it all goes down to people shouldn’t be on their phones in class,” Dusenberry said. “But we shouldn’t punish the whole student section because a few select individuals did something wrong.