An Educational Technology Bill of Rights Targets Censorship in Schools
Widespread public outrage over SOPA rallied Americans against the threat of internet censorship. But though the bill may be dead, there's plenty of censorship happening every day in our nation's public schools. Schools ban students from accessing websites from National Geographic to YouTube and Wikipedia, and all too often choose to confiscate smartphones and tablets instead of turning them into learning devices.
The bans are usually motivated by a fear of lawsuits—no district wants to be sued a parent whose child inadvertently accesses inappropriate images online—or distractions, but banning technology isn't the answer. Late last year, the teacher-generated Twitter hashtag #pencilchat cleverly mocked schools' technophobia. Now,