We the students of O'Gorman High School understand that access to the internet is not a right but a privilege. However it is a privilege that needs to be granted until one loses it, not banished from all. Relating this to another privilege here at O'Gorman, open campus, it can be lost but only through negligence of the rules. There is a network setup and named for students but it is unattainable without the password. Requiring students to use the computers in the library and not use their personal devices is equivalent to forcing the public schools to absorb the students from our Catholic school system, the infrastructure is simply not there. We are moving into a tech filled future and this inability to check infinite campus or google classroom is truly a step in the wrong direction. Another analogy would include: that the highest posted U.S. speed limit is in Texas and is 85 mph however a large majority of vehicles on the road today are more than capable of going above this speed, some as much as 200 mph, but why would vehicle's be made with the ability to go well over the speed limit? Because they allow drivers to be responsible with their vehicles many drivers follow these limits closely because they know that the road they are driving on is designed for that speed and it’s pointless to exceed it. This is similar to our problem here at O’Gorman, we WERE able to make the decision between watching Netflix or working on our homework. Personally I found out quickly what a waste of time it was to check Facebook and how much more I could get done if I focused on my school work. These are decisions that students will face in college so why not prepare them now? We are expected to use Google Classroom but are unable without using a computer, this was met with use of tablets or laptops. If the school is worried with the misuse of the internet they are not meeting their goal. The majority of games are available to be used without internet, in fact, that is basically all my $600 investment is good for now, games, drawing and taking offline notes that I can’t print off. A few statistics from the next step in our education, college, "WiFi is expected as part of today's campus experience both from an educational perspective as well as from a social perspective. Students expect WiFi so that they can learn anytime and anywhere on campus as well as always be available for friends and family," said Stan Schatt, vice president and research director at ABI Research Ninety percent of college students in the United States say WiFi access is as essential to education as classrooms and computers, and nearly three in five say they wouldn't go to a college that doesn't have free WiFi, according to a survey by the WiFi Alliance and Wakefield Research. Lastly, the lack of internet cut us off from email, an essential tool for communicating with teachers, employers and parents regarding everything from who is picking up my sibling to when I work next or from an educational standpoint, what my teacher was talking about in their lecture or how to get past number 29 on this worksheet. As a three time blue ribbon school we sure aren’t leading the pack in the technology field, in fact we are a ways behind. All we ask for is the password to the already established Student network. Please consider our request for the sake of our education.

- The O'Gorman Student Body