November 16, 2025
Kids 1, Filters 0
A twelve-year-old on the failed promise of educational technology
Kids say blockers are a joke; parents feud over fun classes, discipline, and ditching edtech
TLDR: A student says school filters keep getting outsmarted, with kids sharing workarounds and turning learning tools into games. Commenters split between making classes more engaging, enforcing discipline, calling edtech a grift, and bringing back memorization—raising real questions about what actually keeps students learning.
A 12-year-old just spilled the tea: school tech filters are losing the cat-and-mouse game. From unblocking Scratch for coding (hello, instant game arcade) to turning quiz tools like Blooket and Gimkit into sneaky playgrounds, students swap loophole links like trading cards. One kid even roasted a dull truck game with, “the bar is pretty low, no pun intended.” Teachers can still stream YouTube through “teacher tools” even when YouTube is blocked. Translation: filters are whack-a-mole, and the moles are winning.
Cue the comment-section brawl. One camp, led by mjevans, yells: make class actually engaging. Think “turn PE into a sport” energy, but for math. A teacher, jacknews, counters: even with cool projects, “at absolutely any opportunity” some kids still bolt for games — engagement helps, but it’s not a forcefield. petermcneeley drops the dad-voice: the missing word is Discipline, not confiscation-as-parenting. Then pessimizer lights the match: “There isn’t any educational technology,” calling the industry a revolving-money machine. Meanwhile, mariodiana wants an old-school comeback: rote memorization — but gamified with mnemonics and flash cards. The vibe? Chaotic, hilarious, and oddly practical. The only thing everyone agrees on: filters alone won’t save the day. Whether it’s better lessons, stricter norms, or scrapping hype-y edtech altogether, this fight is far from over.
Key Points
- •School web filtering and monitoring tools often fail to keep pace with student workarounds.
- •Educational platforms required for class, such as Scratch, can open access to games when unblocked.
- •Quiz platforms like Blooket and Gimkit can be repurposed by students to function as games.
- •Links to unblocked games spread quickly among students, undermining site‑blocking efforts.
- •Blocking major sites (e.g., YouTube) can be circumvented via teacher accounts; responsible tech use education is advocated.