My thoughts on EdTech, school devices, and the surveillance flaws

(this is v2 of this post i rewrote to make cleaner and also not be super overdramatic :p)

Just to clarify before I start this post it'll be more of a rant than an actual proper argumentative document or something, this just pisses me off tbh LOL.. but yeah. EdTech huh? Pretty nice to have for schools I believe its a beneficial thing for everyone involved if done right. Now what about when done wrong? Well, it doesn't exactly feel as much educational as it does just pure control. Filters and surveillance software are good to have in a school in fact they are actually a legal requirement for public schools and libraries to be provided funds for technology. They do what they're supposed to, stop students from accessing what they shouldn't go on, and helps them focus. In theory, however. In practice, as I have noticed, it appears many districts not just mine have resorted to excessive surveillance software that monitors way too much for way too long. My district is a good example of that! Not only can I not access some basic educational resources like Outlook YouTube the Internet Archive along with others like Quizlet, but I also have a strict tab limit of 10 set in their software, Lightspeed Classroom. Here's the issue I have with that though, not only does blocking those sites OBVIOUSLY restrict learning and what work we can actually do, but they continue to monitor after school hours to almost nearly restrict usage of the laptop if you're caught doing things that aren't "educational" but not inheritely against their Acceptable Use Policy (things like streaming, gaming, and hobbies fall under this gray-area) by setting your tab limit to 1 or even 0 on occasion making you unable to use the device at all for anything regardless of if you need it or not, nearly defeating the entire point of a 1:1 device for students to use. I would just like any districts out there to know that these restrictions aren't doing anything, they just harm those who rely on the technology, and teach those who don't require it to just find ways around them, and that an "agreement" isn't truly a choice if a school makes it mandatory for a student to learn, our AUP (which was last updated in 2017 pre-Lightspeed, FYI) is a required document you have to sign or else you don't get to use technology at all, which is also.. a.. requirement... wow! anyways, re-write done, gotta go do life stuff now so yeah signing off -names

written originally 8/18, rewritten 8/19