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points by OroPla 5 days ago | 0 comments
What do schools need Google for anyway? Had education deteriorated this much already?
[–] MetalBreaksAndB 5 days ago
Google is a pretty essential part of any assignment where independent research is a component.
[–] retwakm3 4 days ago
It isn't, there are other search engines. Best for the students to figure that out now.
[–] goodmythical 5 days ago
Yeah, you'd think by 2026 there'd be literally any other way to conduct research via the web.

Maybe even like some kind of aggregator that allows you to combine several other search engines' results.

That'd be really cool if that exi...oh, wait...

[–] jdiff 5 days ago
Images for a slideshow, citations for an essay, research for a project?
[–] OroPla 4 days ago
Don't you do that on your own personal computer and not.. on a school computer? Though, I'd advise against Google these days since it doesn't surface good results anymore. Even Bing is now better.
[–] jdiff 4 days ago
You can't count on kids having access to personal computers. And sometimes the computer is the class. I taught graphic design, and even though the kids all had licenses to use the Adobe suite at home, few actually could.
[–] OroPla 4 days ago
Aren't all of them carrying smartphones these days? If not, there's the public library.

Not that I think you'd need Google for school work. I know I never used it when I was in school. Everything related to class could be looked up in the textbooks. At most I used Wikipedia to find reference links for homework.

[–] jdiff 4 days ago
They are carrying smartphones. They're not allowed to come out during class, they don't have access to the WiFi, and cell signal is extraordinarily weak across most of the campus.

Public library? They're at a school. They're sitting in front of a computer. They should be able to use it to find information. You keep reaching for "why do they need it?" but there's no reason why they should not have access to search engines. I provided several examples and there are very many more out there. Not every class teaches from a textbook.

[–] OroPla 3 days ago
What the heck are they doing in front of a computer while at school? Why ban smartphones, but not computers?

When in class, pay attention to what the teacher says. At home you can look up stuff on the Internet.

[–] jdiff 3 days ago
Using it to take my graphic design class. Or their Microsoft word class. Or writing the essay they're working on in English. Working on their slideshow with their group in almost any class. Or all the other things I already listed in earlier comments. Education has changed, and it doesn't mean things are being left out.

Ban smartphones because their addictive social media apps are on it distracting them from the class. The computers are school-controlled and filtered devices. This is plain enough that it shouldn't require explanation.

Why should they not have access to a basic internet tool at school?

[–] antiframe 5 days ago
Yes, when I was a student I never touched Google and don't understand why anyone would need it. /s

It's true, I used AltaVista and Yahoo! search because Google didn't exist yet.

[–] OroPla 4 days ago
I don't understand why you would need to use it at school, in a classroom with a teacher present. It's not like Google does anything to student's personal computers at home or the one in the public library.
[–] antiframe 4 days ago
As an example, when I was at school, I would use the library in the building to do research for my papers. It would be odd for a major search engine to just not be available at my school, I feel. I would have to wait for the weekend to go home and be on a network that's not the schools to then use that search engine? Very inconvenient.