Using YouTube for learning

I admit I’m an advocate for tablet learning. Kids already know how to touch a screen and YouTube. I was at the MHS PTA meeting on Wednesday night and the 40 or so parents attending were pretty aware of how things are at the school but I don’t think they have a clue as to how their kids are being taught. I talked to six students that were doing their homework on netbooks and laptops during the meeting and found out that YouTube is blocked at MHS, which is funny since it is also blocked at WSR Hopwood, and two other schools I have checked. The 10 largest libraries on the planet have, collectively, about 190 million books in them. YouTube has an estimated 2.8 billion videos that includes reviews of all those books. Incidentally, there are 655,000 videos on how to bypass schools’ blocking of YouTube; yep, on YouTube. So, I’m asking this question: Why are adults blocking, or think they are blocking, the largest, most comprehensive collection of knowledge ever assembled on Earth—knowledge these kids need to function in the 21st century?

Gary Dubrall
Chalan Piao, Saipan