Recently, schools across NYC have been more strict with apps on school owned devices. At Academy For Young Writers, Youtube has been blocked on school laptops. There have also been town hall meetings on the possibility of phones being confiscated during school hours and other strict rules. With all these going around, many students are not happy with these rules, as social media has helped a lot in school, with not only music and communications with others in case of an emergency, but also help on any schoolwork if needed.
“Mrs. Khan gave us an assignment with a video attached and I wasn’t able to watch it since Youtube is blocked.” said an eleventh grader, Kie’Ara, who regularly uses school websites to help with school work. This has been an issue many students seem to have.
However, teachers and staff may agree with this action because they see social media as a distraction from getting anything done in classrooms. There have been cases of students on their phones during classes, refusing to put them away when being told multiple times. Due to this, students may slow down the teaching process for teachers and disrupt other students from getting their work complete.
“Students should have a lot of access to apps and websites because it can help them learn independently, but I also know that those things can be abused and like not used for what they should be used for.” Says Miss Jaclyn, a 9th grade English teacher.
However, there are some staff that thinks that having websites is actually good for students.
“I don’t think websites should be restricted or blocked for students,” Says Miss Justiana Kubersky, a 12th grade special education teacher, “I actually feel like people have more responsibility when they learn how to control themselves and temptation”
Some students have also pointed out that apps can also help with music, because some students use music to help them concentrate. There are also videos related to schoolwork to help students, or other websites to help with reading and writing skills.
“There are a lot of apps that the DOE puts (reading and writing) that we could use but don’t work. And how are we supposed to use it if y’all closed it?” says Aries, a 10th grade student.
This story was first published on The Writers Weekly on January 25, 2023.
