School wrongly limits facebook access

Mike Targoff/Letter to the Editor

Dear Editors:

Hi, my name is Mike Targoff, and I would like to present an issue I am not fond of: the issure of using Facebook in school. Just for the record, I am a member of Mr. Winkel’s American Literature: 1930 to Today class. In his class, I recently read Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail, and it inspired me to bring up my case for my issue.

Last year, for part of the year, Facebook was not blocked and could be accessed from any computer without proxies in the school. It started to become useful for class in different ways. It was used to find pictures of people for journalism and yearbook classes as well as conduct interviews over the Internet for these classes. After it was blocked, people using proxies were not able to complete tasks for their classes, but a little into the year, students found different ways to get past these proxies. But, of course, they are now blocked with no ways to get through really.

I feel as if this issue will affect everyone because everyone has their own opinions on this topic. There were complaints about the use of Facebook during class from the teachers, but that shouldn’t be such a big deal because if the students are done with their homework and everything, than they should be able to be on there.

I also think that we, the students, should stop this non-sense and all of these blockades to Facebook soon. It is making classes that need pictures or information about a person a lot harder, and I feel as if the school shouldn’t be getting involved with outside-of-school blogs and websites.
I am, in fact, a victim of this issue. Around the end of my junior school year, I was trying to find pictures and information about a student I was interviewing for broadcast journalism class, which I am also a member of, and because almost every social networking website was blocked, I couldn’t get the information I need. It made that story a lot harder than was needed to be.

I am calling out to all students and/or teachers who stand behind me to join me in talking to our school board and make sure that our words are heard! We will do this in peace, and violence will not be the outcome. But please consider my words, for as Martin Luther King, Jr. himself would say, “my cause is just and leaving the issue as is with no action would be unjust”.

I may not be as powerful or have as much leadership that MLK Jr. had, but I can still say I tried. Please people, hear me out on my issue. Making Facebook accessible would make things a lot easier for more than just myself. Thank you for taking time to read this and hear my problem with this topic.

Respectfully,

Mike Targoff
CFHS Student