YouTube should not be blocked: here's why

Last week I presented at an Illinois Computing Educators mini conference, and I was surprised (aghast!) that the school I was presenting at- had YouTube blocked.

The videos that I had ready to show wouldn't play, and it just didn't occur to me that YouTube would be blocked. I'm spoiled by my own school, I know. The folks in my sessions said things like, "oh, our school has it blocked too. It's really frustrating!" And my first question is- why? (it's rhetorical)

First of all, there are many worse sites that a kid could go to and subvert the school's Sonicwall filter, if they are that persistent. Seems to me YouTube gets the bad rap because it is the most popular, and some school admins watch a lot of Dateline NBC. Some teachers were happy with the block; they say that they go to YouTube, use a tool to download the videos, and they play them from Quicktime. Seems like a lot of extra work to me, and the kids miss something in that process. 

My problem with that, is that YouTube channels are becoming more of an "experience," very much like a museum trip or an historical journey. 


If you're a school district administrator, and YouTube is blocked in your district, I know why you did it, but it's time to take it off. YouTube and video sharing are not the Dateline NBC headline anymore. It's not what it was. It's not what it used to be, and it's time to teach kids how to use the tool responsibly. That's called digital citizenship, and it's part of their technology standards. YouTube is now old hat.

Here's why YouTube shouldn't be blocked. (click on the image below).

Also, check out the NASA Channel. So much potential!
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