In high school, each individual is responsible for themselves. Teachers aren’t checking in when you’re sick to give you any assignments you missed or scheduling a time for you to do a makeup test. It’s on you. If we’re supposed to be responsible for every class, give us the chance to do so with our Chromebooks.

Yes, the internet is a scary place, and I agree that there should be lines drawn as to what is and isn’t blocked. However, I have had issues accessing pages for a school project. No seriously, I was trying to do research for my advocacy paper which was about makeup testing on animals, and I found myself staring at the “page blocked” screen multiple times.

While it’s obvious that some students will abuse the privilege of our Chromebooks, in the end we are responsible for our individual actions.

Our Chromebooks are an easy way for us to be distracted in school, but isn’t everything? According to the dress code, the female shoulder is distracting. I should still have access to “distracting” websites for times when I’m not in the classroom.

Say I’m in lunch or study hall and I’m really feeling an episode of “New Girl.” I should have access to Netflix because I’m doing so on my time, not a teacher’s.

Even if a student was to be looking up shoes online or watching a movie during class, in the end, the teacher and administration can’t be held accountable for a student’s actions.

That is the student’s problem. They can make up whatever they missed in their own time and if they don’t, whatever consequence comes with it is on them.

Certainly the difference in age between freshman and seniors could present an issue. There is a severe difference in maturity from ages 14 to 18. However, I feel that it wouldn’t be an impossible task to block different websites for different grades, or even have a reward system where students earn special privileges of certain websites through good behavior or grades.

We are all independent enough to be able to pick and choose what we want to do with our time. If I’m given a full period to work on a homework assignment in class one day, I’d much rather take that time to relax and do whatever it is I want to do. I’ll work on the assignment when I get home because for me personally, it’s much easier to focus in my house than at school.