The other day, I was looking for an article to use to analyze during Journalism class. I was scrolling through Google, reading the descriptions when I found one I liked, but I couldn’t use it, because when I clicked the link it told me that the site had been blocked.

I hate when this happens: you are trying to find evidence for your persuasive essay and you can’t even get information from the internet, because all the websites where you could actually find good evidence for your topic have been blocked. How are we supposed to work with this if the teachers complain about it too? We are like dogs; we have a leash and are only given some much line before we reach the end and can’t go anywhere. We are old enough to understand that some sites on the internet are inappropriate and we should avoid them.

Apparently, the county’s administrators are blinded by the image they have of us. They think that all of us are rebellious, untrustworthy, and can’t act right.

At Debate.Org, one student argues, “Being a student, I think it’s quite ridiculous that I can’t use multiple educational websites because they are blocked. I have to do a lot of projects, most of which with videos. Because of the school’s rules I cannot get onto YouTube to find a good video for my project. And come on, how many videos have you watched that AREN’T on YouTube? Very few, right? Imagine how hard it is for a student to find a video without these tools. Also, YouTube isn’t allowed to have ‘bad’ videos. Sure, some may be funny and not-school material. But 99% of the internet is. Soon, the only websites we’re going to have left are the ones run by libraries. Try to find research on a LIBRARY site.” 

 We may have YouTube but, other schools don’t. I have to admit that some websites should be blocked, not ALL. Some of us like to listen to music while we work, but they are limiting our sources for us to listen to music. They blocked some sites that younger children play games on when they are done working. They are taking away our freedom.  At Debate.org, someone wrote, “I may be a student, but that doesn’t mean my opinion isn’t true. These blocks are often pointless. For example, let’s just say I finish all my work on a period I work at a computer, and the teacher doesn’t have any new work posted yet. In such a situation, I should be allowed to go on any site I want, within reason.”

The county’s administrators should give us more freedom on the internet. They should only block websites that are social media, pornography or, online gaming, and let us do what we want in our free time when we have finished our work. I don’t think it is fair that they do this. We should be able to read a article if want to, and we should be able to listen to music that we want to listen. I don’t want a leash and neither do you.