Please Don’t Make Us Chain Ourselves to Trees

Sabina Wex

IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD. Just kidding, it’s not December
21st (at least, not yet); however, it’s something almost as bad: the
TDSB Wi-Fi is down! What ever shall we do?! I don’t know what shall be done,
but what I do know is that class time will never be the same.

My initial reaction to the Wi-Fi shutdown was what on earth will the teachers do!? Many
teachers, the most famous including Mr. Stamp and his use of Facebook and Mr.
O’Connell and his use of his website, utilize the internet to show videos and
articles to their students about things related to the course material. Don’t
fret, fellow students! You should be relieved to hear that their connection to
the internet can also be received via dial-up. At least the connection between
what we learn in the classroom and what applies in the real world is still
within reach.

I’ve never been a huge computer user during class, as I find I usually end up going on sites that are related to pictures, and ogle either at random couples’ Kodak moments or friends and acquaintances’ you’ll-regret-that-tomorrow albums, instead of actually using it to take notes. However, there are many students in the school that do find the
Wi-Fi quite useful and were outraged when they found out that their beloved
school tool may never be coming back until…NEXT YEAR.

I thought that even though I usually see screens filled with things that are most definitely not school related, perhaps these laptop owners do engage in class work when I’m not looking. I decided to investigate and ask various students who are constantly on their computers whether they use their devices for good or evil. I asked a student who is doing well in school, but is constantly on her laptop, what exactly she does on her
device. “Tumblr,” she said while smirking, “but I do use it to do work, as well, so it’s not like it’s only a distraction.”

I got varied responses from other laptop lovers, however, most of the time, these students were not using their computers for their educational benefit.

Although, a pair of students decided to fight against The Man and use their computers to make a Facebook event called No Wi-Fi? No Students! The event was made in order
to let all NT students know that the TDSB cannot take away our freedom to
accessible internet within the school and that we should all skip one day to
protest this. Unfortunately, the event didn’t go over too well with many
students, as most of them made comments like “meanwhile in Africa…”
or “stop being such spoiled brats.” Also, we all know that nobody enjoys
skipping class. Who wants to miss out on an opportunity to learn how to draw a
parabola or write a chemical equation? That stuff is way too exciting and practical to be skipped out on. After speaking with a number of students, the general consensus was that people need to suck it up and deal without the Wi-Fi. I know all you grade nines and tens weren’t in the old school, but we didn’t have any Wi-Fi there, and frankly,
we’ve become a little bit spoiled in this new, beautiful school of ours. Sadly,
the creators of the event decided to shut it down due to the negative responses
it received. Kudos to them for standing up for their rights!

Obviously, the NT administration heard about these irate internet consumers, and tried
their best to ensure that they get the Wi-Fi back before students began to
chain themselves to trees. Mr. Gorenkoff made an announcement on Thursday, May
1st to tell the school that they were turning the connection to the
Wi-Fi back on, but it may not be working, as they were still repairing it. The
internet may not be totally perfect until next year, but a little birdie tells
me that there are other network connections that are unsecure and you can
access them. Life goes on!

I may not be the most active user of the TDSB
Wi-Fi, but I do know that it is a relevant issue to many students at NT. Yes,
the Wi-Fi won’t be gone for much longer, but it is a little sketchy to go on
these unidentified networks where you never know who else is lurking. All I can
say is now I can rejoice since the Wi-Fi is back, and now our computing friends
can watch missed Jersey Shore episodes online while simultaneously listening to a teacher drone on about something or other. Life is good, friends, life is good.