Is Our Technology Policy Too Much? New Guidelines Bring Mixed Reactions from Students

by: Yonatan Kurz

This year, TABC unveiled a new technology policy, sparking both positive and negative reactions throughout the student body. An email sent by Mrs. Edelman in the beginning of the year stipulated that students had just two and a half weeks to register their devices with Mr. Harris and any student that failed to do so would have his computer confiscated by the administration. The email also provided two different articles explaining the distractions technology can cause in class and why TABC felt its new policy was necessary. Lastly, students are now heavily encouraged to use their TABC email accounts, as opposed to private ones, when it comes to uploading assignments onto Schoology. One student, Yitzchak Tollinsky (’18) exclaimed, “It’s a good system”, which echoes the opinion of many students.

One of the problems with the new system, however, is the lack of privacy it provides. Although it’s good that the school has tried to find a solution to the distractions caused by devices, some students may feel that their privacy has been invaded for one main reason: Wifi can now be tracked. When students register their computers with Mr. Harris, he puts something into their computers, which enables him to look at any student's Wifi history. This is kind of scary as the school’s policy is comparable to the NSA’s monitoring of Americans and foreigners alike. In order to ensure their privacy many students have switched to public networks such as TWCWiFi or Optimumwifi, where nobody is able to access their history and there are no blocked websites and applications. Although this protects their privacy, it doesn’t solve the issue the administration was targeting: preventing students with devices from having lower grades, less participation, and a lack of focus. One anonymous student remarked, “(the system) is very controlled but not so controlled at the same time.” demonstrating that many among the student body have conflicted views on this issue. There are many different pros and cons in this system, and it will be up to the administration to decide on whether they have been too strict or lenient regarding this new policy.