Internet Restrictions and Other Shady Shenanigans

Having now been at Whitworth for a total of six days, I feel I am entitled to my first official complaint-fest. Here's the only few issues that I've found with Whitworth, hopefully laid out nice and neatly.

Article One: Internet Restrictions. If the goal of a college is to brew Adults, and brew individuals who are world-conscious, as well as upright and strong individuals, then this filtering seems counter-intuitive. Rather than prepare a college student for the real world, filtering simply holds back some of the less happy parts of the world until graduation. Now, I have read B-Rob's justification for this filtering, and some of it makes sense. Assuming the individual is never going to leave this school, that is. His reasoning (and if I'm wrong, please correct me) seems to be that filtering helps those who have pornography issues. Now, I understand how this could be a problem for someone. But the answer should not be the stock Christian (yes, I said it. If you don't get what I'm talking about here, the book unChristian might be good to read, it's got a wonderful section all about this) response of isolating and denying. (note, this is not ALL Christian's response, it just has been an underlying theme that I've noticed)

It is precisely this attitude towards negative aspects of life that have caused me to draw away from the church. Instead of simply blocking the bad things, and hoping they won't touch the inside of our precious Pine Curtain, why not educate and advise? Put in a few days (or even weeks) of education about the Evils of this world. This way the shock of entering the real world even more than we already are will be less shocking for the sheltered little denizens of Whitworth.

Article Two: Wireless/Internet ease of use. Yes, I understand that security is important. But it IS possible to be secure while not being friggin retarded. Seriously. You shouldn't need a machine-side client to simply sign in with WPA (which is what the client does...). So, if a Whitworth IT guy reads this, here's some advice: Break your crack-like addiction to WIndows based security and switch to something more usable. You might have to actually learn some coding, but in the end it will be less painful for your student population.

I have a feeling this Blog will end up with more articles, be they in contention, or in support of Whitworth. Overall, I'm loving this school. Till next time, keep that flag hoisted, and keep on Plundering.