by David Thomsen

Since the addition of the one-to-one program at Atlantic High School, students have been adapting to the rules and guidelines placed by the district.  But, from the start of the new school year, certain websites have been blocked for various reasons.  Just recently, another popular website was blocked at the school, leaving some students upset and some left to wonder.

Netflix, a popular entertainment service used by many students throughout the school day, was blocked early last week.  Websites within the Atlantic Community School District are blocked for various reasons, some of which include websites that contain inappropriate material, games, and vulgar or offensive language.  However, Netflix doesn’t fall into any of these categories.  Instead, Netflix was blocked because it caused distractions within the high school student body and the school district had to do something about it.

Many students have mixed opinions regarding Netflix being blocked, most of which disagree but understand the district’s decision to block the website.  Senior Mollee Welter, a frequent Netflix user, said, “I am upset because I really enjoyed watching Netflix in my study hall when I had nothing else to do.”

Senior Collin Baker said, “It’s really not that big of deal to me, but to others, it’s ruined for them.”  Baker said that he usually only uses Netflix for “one binge session per week.”  According to Baker, the district and teachers are fully aware that students were watching Netflix during class, which most likely contributed to the decision to block the website entirely.

“I think they are trying to get rid of anything bad these computers could be used for, which is borderline impossible for high school students,” said Baker.  The internet is essentially limitless and as long as students are given access, inappropriate or distracting websites will evidently be found.

Junior Jackson Wickman offers another side to the story.  Wickman, who uses Netflix “maybe once a month” agrees that Netflix was a distraction to the students, but disagrees with some of the districts methods of blocking websites.  He also mentioned that he “never uses Netflix during school,” but expressed his knowledge for others using it in classrooms.

Often times websites will be blocked even though the student is using that website for educational purposes.  This not only affects the students, but the teachers and their classrooms as well.  “The number of blocked school websites is too high, and it is inconvenient because I think it limits my school work ability,” said Wickman.  Especially when researching controversial topics, the website is consistently blocked, which contributes to less informative school work.

Baker does not think the school will unblock Netflix in the future.  “There are too many people that use it when they aren’t supposed to.”

However, Wickman once again disagrees with the others.  “I think they probably will because of the teachers.”  In addition, Wickman expressed his thoughts on other blocked websites and believes the district needs to unblock the websites that could be used for educational purposes.

What do you think?  Should Netflix be unblocked?  Does the district block too many websites?