TDSB Announces Decision to Ban Google From Its WI-FI

'Google Classroom? Back in my day, we had a real classroom in a real school. Not this wishy-washy Google stuff you hear of today,' TDSB Congressman, age 86, says.

By: Mentie Brakedawn

TORONTO, ON– The TDSB has just recently announced their decision to ban all Google products– that includes the Google browser, Google Drive, and Google Classroom– from all TDSB Wi-Fi networks.

This decision quickly follows the mandate to ban phones and social media in schools instituted by the TDSB at the start of this school year. It is regarded by many as the natural continuation of a campaign to reduce distracted students in the classroom.

“Google browsers must generally access all online distractions on students’ computers. To go to any website, you need to do a Google search. Many websites have Google log-ins. Our policy would be removing all distractions at its root, resulting in a much more focused classroom,” A TDSB representative commented.

Students will still be allowed to keep their laptops and Chromebooks, but the functionality of Chromebooks in particular will be greatly limited to whatever apps will be necessary for school (i.e. Microsoft Word). The devices will be transformed into “expensive paperweights”; but many administrators and teachers are in favour of this transition.

“This policy is a good move,” one WLMAC teacher commented. “I’m so tired of students being on ‘Instant-gram’ and ‘Red-it’ in class. They’re getting distracted by Gmail and Google Slides, and there’s no valid reason for them to need this frivolousness. Now, it’ll be just like the good old days, with everything being on paper as originally intended.”

Meanwhile, students did not have as much of a negative attitude to the policy as expected. One WLMAC student the Flounder interviewed said, “Yeah, it’s understandable why they’d do that. It’s okay though, I still have a VP- I mean what?”

Other students, however, have compared this move by the TDSB to China’s Great Firewall, a comparison that administrators did not particularly appreciate.

Only time will tell if this policy will increase the effectiveness of education in schools, or if it will spark a new era of student rebellion. For the time being, though, the TDSB plans its next steps of banning Wi-Fi entirely.