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  • Banning the ban
  • Posted By:
  • Mira S
  • Posted On:
  • 29-Jun-2009
  •  In times like these, everyone is bogged down with recession. Getting a job or getting paid is huge. In fact, even educational institutions have strict rules laid down for pay cuts, no free aid and others. 


    So actually getting into a university is a big thing now. Everyone is slowly accepting the situation. While universities like Harvard and Cambridge are discontinuing with the free HBO and ESPN channels across their dorms and colleges, the Brigham Young University has recently lifted the ban on using you tube after three long years. 
     

    This University is a part of the Mormon Church institution which was strictly against the kind of unnecessary content which was being made available to students through the you tube website. They dreaded that their students would watch pornographic or other violent video clips on the Internet through this site.  
     

    The student here has to agree to live a virtuous and a chaste life, just as the church prescribes, else they won’t be admitted into college. But now things have changed and the ban has been lifted. This is because many students and teaching staff members feel that there are a lot of educational and important videos / materials available on this website which their students do not have access to, due to the ban.  
     

    It was banned way back in 2006 as the university’s administrators felt that there was a lot of content which would violate the rules of the university on you tube.  There are softwares and firewalls to block pornographic sites. Also you tube by itself has a filter which blocks unnecessary content. But the college authorities were skeptical about it from the beginning.    
     

    Also there were other reasons the university cited. They had lower bandwidth provisions and hence watching or downloading videos from this site would take a lot longer than normal. But now some professors have complained saying that they need to access the site for relevant videos clips which would help their class and students for further studies.   
     

    There are other strict norms too. Like after being a part of this college, you cannot smoke, drink as alcohol and tobacco are banned on the campus. Pornography, watching it and downloading it is considered taboo.  
     

    Well, all this sounds very well. But we don’t know how many students would adhere to such norms. Because students see rules as those which are meant to be broken. Almost every other college allows smoking and caffeine on campus so this ban seems a bit far fetched. But lifting the ban from you tube is a step towards more democratic norms in future. Let’s hope for the best! So if you are taking up admissions here, remember, be a good boy or girl! Do not smoke no drinking and don’t be bad to other! Jesus is watching you!  
     

    But then why can’t you give up something’s for a good education? If it is worth a while? Think about it! so well, it is up to you students now! Sigh…






 

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