GoGuardian makes comeback!

By Akali Koeda 
Due to recent events and at the request of many faculty members, Director of the Upper School, Allie Kier, has decided to bring back the use and installation of GoGuardian on all devices. 
Many students who have just recently graduated from Middle School may remember the use of this software, which is made to monitor and filter student activity online. 
To monitor the use of devices and electronics within Willis Hall, the executive decision has been made to renew the installation of GoGuardian on all school-related devices. 
As one of the advocates for the return of GoGuardian, Morgan Kemp, Yearbook and Graphic Design teacher voiced her reason. “Due to the increased use of computer games in class, focus is down and attitude is up. Students are losing their minds over it, there is constant fighting over who’s doing poorly and making their in-game teams lose.” 
Peers and classmates have all been asking when Roblox will be able for use on the computers again and to the dismay of many students, the answer may be nowhere in the near future. It is clear that we can expect all school related devices to be monitored within the next few weeks. “Games benefit my mental health,” said Charlie Zhao ‘26, “because sometimes class can be boring after finishing my work, and it gives me a fun distraction.”
Another teacher who advocated for this program is Chinese and 9th Grade English teacher Nicki Dabney. “I am thrilled about this! Privacy is totally overrated,” She said with absolute excitement, “That being said, I don’t need software to know exactly what my students are doing. I can track eye movements, facial expressions, and keyboard patterns like nobody’s business. Just ask my World Lit students. I am pretty sure I could convince students that I have cameras in my room, but it’s really just my excellent op skills. Still, I gladly welcome an accomplice in keeping my students on their toes!”
Over 30 million students use Chromebooks or school-related devices on a daily basis, and according to The Derek Bok Center For Teaching And Learning, “They enable students who are prone to distraction to indulge in the illusion that they can multitask at no cost to their learning.” Additionally, according to a Cornell University study conducted in 2003, students who multi-tasked during a lecture scored lower on a test compared to students who did not multitask. As stated by The Churchill Observer, “It is imperative that website access on Chromebooks is restricted to ensure that students are not distracted during class.”
“We’re clearly dealing with an epidemic of seismic proportions with student misuse of technology,” said Kier, “and Go Guardian seems to be the only real deterrent to prevent students from spending their valuable learning hours glued to online shopping, gaming, and chatting. Empowering the teachers to immediately shut down and control what goes on each individual student computer is only one small step in my larger plan to completely eliminate technology usage in the school setting. Paper and pencils are making a comeback!” 

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