404 page not found.

It’s a message students are all too familiar with when they can’t access certain websites.

The bans that ETHS has on certain websites limit our education and cause problems when working on homework online at school. Website bans should not be as strict as they are now, since teachers often base their curriculum off of online resources. Students and teachers suffer because access to certain materials is denied.

One common issue with ETHS website availability is its inconsistency. In W201, Google Chrome is unavailable to open or download. As ETHS gravitates towards going green and becoming more dependent on technology and Google Apps, this causes a problem to many students who require Google Chrome and other sites to use for educational purposes.

Even easy and quick hacks that most people have used to work around these bans sometimes don’t work. While these hacks might have worked in District 65, they fail at ETHS. There’s no way around these website regulations, and to access websites or Google Apps to work on class assignments, you must wait to go online at home.

There is a point to be made, though, that these bans are put in place to protect us from wasting our time on things like games, or to keep our minds out of the gutter by banning anything inappropriate or pornographic. As these are understandable reasons, sometimes material online can fall into a gray area.

But some websites remain blocked,  even though they’re being used for educational purposes.

Blocking pages only puts a brake on our eager minds and letting go of the reigns could unleash a world of possibilities in education. If there weren’t any bans on websites at ETHS, work could get accomplished more quickly, and there would be a stronger sense of trust among students and faculty in the community.