treehouserock

I’ve been thinking about what happens in our schools when we deny students access to information on the web. While it’s somewhat troublesome to use class definitions, the largely white middle class students in the district where I tutor can go home and use internet resources, whereas for students from low income families, the school might be their only access to that information. Of course there are public libraries where people have relatively open access, but I’d like to examine what we are really doing by disallowing access to so-called social sites. I’d like to think that a lot of these pages are actually blogs that are discussing very relevant political/social/economic topics; like this post I came across in one of my rss feeds.

“I attend high school. Today I had a free period and with nothing else to do in our half demolished campus [my school is undergoing serious construction] so I decided that the best place to spend this one hour is by going to the library to check progressiveu and read people’s blogs. However, when I surfed the internet, progessiveu was blocked. The reason: personal blogging & something having to do with socializing.

I understand that myspace, xanga, youtube & urbandictionary are blocked and I see the reasoning behind that, but progressiveu???

I do admit that this is a blogging website but it is not just about anything. It is about blogging that interests people’s attention, not just another website like the ones mentioned above. The purpose of this website serves for other causes than the other restricted websites.

For example,I get informed about many things going around in the world, like foreign affairs and US politics. I have the opportunity to express what I feel, just like I am right now. Most importantly, ProgressiveU lets people’s write down their opinions. Their emotions. Their sympathy. “

                                                               link to the full post here

Obviously there are steps that this young student can take to get access to blog pages(and a good lesson in using the system to implement change) but what are we saying to students who can’t go home and write a post like this? I know this is a minor point, as there are so many reputable news organizations whose content is readily available - the issue I think is the missing element of debate and discussion - sure this student can go to the BBC or NYT webpages and get news - but where can she go to discuss/debate the issues that are presented? I’d hate to think that out of (a fairly legitimate) concern regarding child predators/objectionable content, that school districts would simply put a blanket ban on any site that has a social premise - like progressiveu.org. Maybe their hope is that by excluding all content, students will petition for sites like the one discussed above that have some academic merit. After all, most schools have come a long way with their internet filtering policies. I remember wanting to research sex discrimination for an essay in high school and running into dead end after dead end because by search queries contained the word sex; this is largely not the case now as internet filters have become more advanced and better designed. My hope is that we are careful to ensure equal access to what has been called web 2.0 - the interactive, collaborative side of the web which holds so much potential - hopefully potential that far outweighs risk.  I like this example from another high school student really illustrates the kind of meaningful/insightful blogging that happens every day;

Today, as I was blogging, my brother walked in. He didn’t say anything, he just sat down and watched me type. He looked at me in a way that words can’t describe. I was looking into his eyes at what was in his soul.

My brother is autistic. He doesn’t talk. Autistic children don’t usually make eye contact. So the very little communication that I do get from him is rare. It’s hard, like standing on the edge of a cliff. You don’t see anything ahead of you, and life at times seems grim. I have wondered, who will take care of him when my parents are gone? How will he understand? How can I reach out to him and explain? At this cliff, I can’t move forward. I can only look back. I can only look back on how in the past 17 years of my life I have never had a normal brother. I don’t know his favorite color. I don’t know if he would have liked to play scrabble with me on friday nights. I don’t know what its like to have a conversation with my brother. As I write this I am crying. I don’t know why. I don’t know why all feeling hasn’t been numbed, I want the pain to numb, I just want my brother back. I want to know what he likes, I want to know if he prefers chocolate or vanilla, I want him to tease me, I want to see his heart and soul. Maybe I am asking for too much. I just want the 17 years that I have gotten used to him to overcome any hidden feelings that I have left of grief,sometimes anger, and simply “why?”

Today, as I was blogging, my brother walked in. He didn’t say
anything, he just sat down and watched me type. He looked at me in a
way that words can’t describe. I was looking into his eyes at what was
in his soul. I wondered, what is he thinking? He looked at me so intently like he was dying to say something. I thought, there really is a human in there, a being with a mind and a soul. I started thinking, maybe, just maybe he will say something. So far, he hasn’t said it with words. Sometimes, if you look hard, you can read it in his eyes. We sat there in silence. He searching my eyes, and I searching his. What did he find? Understanding. We both found understanding. This is the way it is. That moment we shared I will always treasure. We both have different roles in life. In his eyes, it was like he accepted his. Like he had this far away look that was beyond my understanding. Does he know that he is autistic? He looks far off at times, and we sit in silence. The silence that created a gap between this complete stranger that I live with. This stranger who I know nothing about besides his name. The silence is deafening.

                                                                                      link to blog here

Not only is this student’s writing insightful, but it’s meaningful because the writing is about a topic the writer cares about and the writing is addressed to an actual audience - a small glimpse of what it’s like to live with a family member who has autism.  As far as I can tell, there’s no indication that this is an assignment or something someone asked them to do - they were simply motivated to share their own personal experience.  As an educator this is a goldmine - it can be a struggle to help students find motivation, and I really think that writing of this type can be an excellent way to motivate students, get them writing.  Whats more, I think this demonstrates, in a way, how blogging can be more than a bunch of kids carrying their lunch-hour conversations into an internet environment.