To wi-fi or not to wi-fi at college
Students at a school which cut off wi-fi during breaks are saying the move to get kids off their phones has created more problems than it has solved.
In mid-February Martin Chamberlain, the principal of New Plymouth’s Francis Douglas Memorial College, began turning off the wi-fi during the morning tea and lunch breaks.
Students Adam Johnston, Steven Townes, Riley Habib and Francisco Medeiros Calvo said they didn’t think it was a good idea. Townes said students just had to have a data plan on their phone to access the internet and while that worked for most students, some could not afford it.
‘‘Without tarring everyone with the same brush, the average person is reasonably well off - certainly enough to not think twice about buying data,’’ he said. ‘‘But myself? I’m not one of those, buying data is not an option. For the few people with less money, this hits hardest.’’
Medeiros Calvo said it disadvantaged students who wanted to get work done during their breaks.
‘‘This really affects me and my friends who are currently doing a lot of stuff in business studies as we need the internet to get all our work,’’ he said.
‘‘On top of that it’ll increase the amount of people on their phone in class. I have no statistical or physical proof but yeah there is a noticeable increase.’’
Students at the school had also found a loophole - they’re connecting to another school network.
Chamberlain said they had noticed some students were congregating near the hostel, where they were still able to connect to the wi-fi set up for boarders at the school.
‘‘We’ve now switched that off at the same time,’’ he said.
More than a month after the school started turning its wi-fi off, students had been settling into the routine of living without it for an hour or so during breaks.
‘‘We’ve seen a bit of a reduction around the school in the number of screens being used,’’ he said.
‘‘The groups of students looking around at break times has grown.’’
When asked if there had been any feedback from students or parents, Chamberlain said there had been very little but he had heard anecdotally that parents were supportive of the idea.
An unscientific Stuff poll, which had 5,300 votes, saw 67 per cent support the move while 8 per cent thought it should be left on the whole time. The other 25 per cent thought students shouldn’t have access to wi-fi at all.
Comments on Facebook mostly agreed with the idea, either praising the school for turning it off or asking why they had access to it at all.
When he was interviewed about the move in early March, Chamberlain said it was something he had wanted to do for a long time.
‘‘We see phones as an essential part of modern life so students are often invited to use their phone in class and to look up things on the web, and certainly we see them as a vital parental communication tool during breaks. So no, we’re not Luddites; phones are a part of modern life,’’ he said.
‘‘But the other side of it is when I see students fixated onto screens, generally junior students who haven’t been used to having this at their primary schools but now when they get it here they tend to make a feast of it.’’ After many delays the Urenui seawall has finally been finished.
But it’s smaller than what some people were expecting.
The long awaited 140 metre extension is half the height of the original wall, Clifton Community Board chairman Ken Bedford said.
‘‘It’s not a seawall. It’s a structure designed to break down the force of the waves before it reaches the sand hills.
‘‘The waves will break over it and as they come back they dump the sand behind it, so it stops sand going back out to sea again.’’
It appeared to be working well, but it hadn’t been tested by a big storm, he said.
‘‘It does look small. A lot of residents thought it would be a high wall like the rest of it, but it’s only designed as an interim measure to break the force of the waves.’’
Bedford estimated the would last five to 10 years.
‘‘For value for money it was the best way to go. A fully developed wall cost thousands. A common name for it is a half tide wall.’’
And the resource consent from Taranaki Regional Council was only for a half-tide wall, he said.
They got what they were expecting for the money, he said.
The extension cost about $150,000 with $50,000 being donated by Urenui Boat Club patron Darcy Mace.
New Plymouth District Council acting infrastructure manager wall Andrew Barron said the wall was built with rocks that were hidden behind the sand. ‘‘It will mitigate the erosion.’’ The work was due to start last October but was delayed because of penguins nesting underneath nearby baches.
A protective rock seawall was first built along 299 metres of Urenui Beach in 2001.
Stage two was built in 2009, but the council decided against funding the remaining 140 metres until last year.