Graphic by A.J. Patencio
By A.J. Patencio
Dear fellow PVS students, as many of you have probably already noticed, YouTube has been blocked by the school. While we don’t see the normal page for a website that’s blocked by the LightSpeed system when visiting YouTube, we see “ERR_QUIC_PROTOCOL_ERROR” on your screen and text that tells you the YouTube website is either “temporarily down” (which is not likely, as the website loads on all devices when off-campus) or has “moved permanently to a new web address” (which YouTube would never do). This means that the website has been blocked and students can’t access it during school for any reason.
There might be multiple reasons for YouTube being blocked. Maybe too many kids in the Upper or Middle School (as we share the same Wifi network) were caught watching YouTube during class, and this caused the ban (which might be the cause for Netflix being banned as well). Maybe the school is just trying to enforce the rule in the PVS Technology Handbook/Chromebook Contract we all signed (yes, you had to sign a contract to get your Chromebook, and if you’re absolutely sure that you didn’t sign a contract then you shouldn’t have that Chromebook) that states we will not watch streaming services for entertainment on the Chromebooks. Maybe it’s because when lunch came around, the Wifi network immediately started lagging horribly due to the amount of students jumping onto YouTube (and Netflix, Spotify, etc.) to look at random stuff.
Whatever the cause is, there are already consequences appearing (other than us not being able to watch memes). Many educational websites (such as Crash Course, JoczProductions, Khan Academy, TomRichey.net, etc.) host their videos on YouTube. Why is this important? Well, now that YouTube is blocked, you won’t be able to see any of the videos on those websites, which teachers use to assign as classwork. The teacher could use the Staff Wifi to access the video and project it on the board, but this hinders individual and small group work and is problematic for combined AP and non-AP classes that have to watch different videos.
Keep in mind, this is only the first week back from vacation–plus it’s review week for all the Upper School students taking Midterms–, and there are already problems arising. Whether or not YouTube will be unblocked by the school in the near future is unanswered, as the problems caused by this are still just popping up. If you have an opinion you’d like to share about this, a problem that’s caused by YouTube being blocked, or a possible solution, please put it in the comments.
Editor: Claire Jenkins
Sad that students who use it for legitimate reasons lose such an amazing resource because it CAN be used for entertainment.
What a expertly written and edited piece. Congrats both to AJ and Claire. I’ll be so interested to see what people have to say.
This is a well-written article that accurately describes the problem and considers multiple perspectives.
Here’s my question to you and your readers: what should you do about it? Is there a way to change the policy to balance a tool that can be useful for learning with concerns about uses that are not school-appropriate?