Ethiopia blocked social media for everyone because it’s “a distraction for students” - Polidicks

[QUOTE]After university entrance exams were cancelled because the questions were posted online, Ethiopia’s government has responded by blocking access to social media. The ban applies to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Viber. Despite perceived ulterior motives, authorities insist the government has the students’ best interests at heart. “It’s a temporary measure until Wednesday,” Getachew Reda, a government spokesman, said. “Social media have proven to be a distraction for students.” But most Ethiopians will view that claim dubiously given Ethiopia’s overt caution with internet communications in general. In 2012, a clampdown restricted voice over internet protocol (VoIP) calls. With users facing a 15 year jail term, the clampdown included making “unauthorized calls” on Skype. The country also has a history of blocking “opposition and human rights blogs.” Much of Ethiopia’s attempts to censor the internet is rooted in its laws. A recently proposed legislation which seeks to “criminalize spamming” is feared to be an indirect way to censor journalists and activists online. This follows similar prior legislation believed to be repressive of the internet like the Mass Media and Freedom of Information Proclamation of 2008 and the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation of 2009.[/QUOTE] [url]http://qz.com/728802/ethiopia-blocked-social-media-for-everyone-because-its-a-distraction-for-students/[/url]

The war on terrorism has fueled the greatest crackdown on personal liberties in human history But hey, it's not like an autocracy isn't a long-term stable country that never would have a bloody civil war when it weakens any

Can't wait for them to make students sit their exams in their underwear after they see that this won't work to stem cheating either :downs: It would be much less trouble to simply install WiFi and cellphone jammers at testing centres to minimize the cheating, since it's impossible to ever completely eliminate it. People will always find ways, no matter what precautions are taken.

What kind of excuse is this?They shut down the internet because the "students have problem concentrating".What about everyone else who´s not in school? Good job Ethiopia.Fortunately it will be temporary. :goodjob:

People were cheating well before the era of social media. I don't see how this will help.

[QUOTE=Pascall;50702942]People were cheating well before the era of social media. I don't see how this will help.[/QUOTE] I used a very early "smartwatch" to cheat on a few tests in middle school back in the MySpace era. But it looked like a digital watch so no one suspected a thing. Better ban digital watches.

[QUOTE=Demache;50702992]I used a very early "smartwatch" to cheat on a few tests in middle school back in the MySpace era. But it looked like a digital watch so no one suspected a thing. Better ban digital watches.[/QUOTE] Hell, calculator watches would have been against the rules for some of my math exams. Literally could not have even a basic arithmetic calculator on them. God forbid I don't want to spend 2 minutes calculating something like 671*482.

[QUOTE=Demache;50702992]I used a very early "smartwatch" to cheat on a few tests in middle school back in the MySpace era. But it looked like a digital watch so no one suspected a thing. Better ban digital watches.[/QUOTE] They have, here at least. I also had to take off my analogue watch and have it next to me, rather than on my wrist. For whatever reason. [QUOTE=Protocol7;50703293]Hell, calculator watches would have been against the rules for some of my math exams. Literally could not have even a basic arithmetic calculator on them. God forbid I don't want to spend 2 minutes calculating something like 671*482.[/QUOTE] That makes sense if it's a non-calculator exam dude. It's a maths exam, not a calculator skills exam.

I cheated by memorizing the material on the test beforehand, so I could get all the answers better ban that too. [sp] but seriously, how would this help anything anyways?[/sp]

[QUOTE=Demache;50702992]I used a very early "smartwatch" to cheat on a few tests in middle school back in the MySpace era. But it looked like a digital watch so no one suspected a thing. Better ban digital watches.[/QUOTE] I cheated through smuggling in a piece of paper in my shirt with answers riddled with scribbles and crossed out stuff and pretended it was my mock-up answer paper. teacher literally saw me taking over answers and correct the spelling as i put it on the test and didn't mind

[QUOTE=da space core;50703337]I cheated by memorizing the material on the test beforehand, so I could get all the answers better ban that too. [sp] but seriously, how would this help anything anyways?[/sp][/QUOTE] fukin hardcore dude

[QUOTE=Erfly;50703330][B]It's a maths exam, not a calculator skills exam.[/B][/QUOTE] What? The difficulty is knowing what to type into the calculator, not accidentally calculating 69*47 = 3253 I understand banning calculators that can do actual proper maths like calculating inflection points and solving quadratic equations, but simple calculators that just help with mental arithmetic are very useful and nobody who is terrible at maths will be able to use them correctly. Unless you are talking about elementary school level maths, in that case I kind of agree.

I never understood banning calculators on tests that weren't for new concepts

[QUOTE=Erfly;50703330]That makes sense if it's a non-calculator exam dude. It's a maths exam, not a calculator skills exam.[/QUOTE] That's why you don't allow the fancy $400 CAS calculators on a Linear Algebra test, because those things can solve pretty much anything. Stopping students from using a $5 scientific calculator from Walmart doesn't spoil the content of the exam unless you're in the 3rd grade and learning multiplication for the first time.

[QUOTE=Erfly;50703330]That makes sense if it's a non-calculator exam dude. It's a maths exam, not a calculator skills exam.[/QUOTE] Couldn't agree less.

[QUOTE=Map in a box;50703580]I never understood banning calculators on tests that weren't for new concepts[/QUOTE] Shit pissed me off sometimes. Every so often I got a question wrong, not because I failed to understand the concept, but because I did some basic algebra incorrectly because of a temporary case of dyslexia (I guess, I don't know what better way to put it). Something that wouldn't have happened if I had a calculator. At least I feel good about knowing I was right about one thing about the "you won't always have a calculator argument". You know the number of times I didn't have access to a basic calculator outside of school? Fucking never. Doesn't happen. Calculators are such a cheap commodity. Loads of things have a calculator just because they can. My father's tape measure has a solar powered one, and god knows how old that is. That argument stopped being relevant in the 90's. Before I was in preschool.

Dyscalculia would be the numerical equivalent to dyslexia.

I say we ban oxygen, as it's a potential risk for students in terms of transmitting diceases, and can also cause distraction if overly exposed to.

Why not just get rid of entrance exams instead of social network access.

[QUOTE=Pascall;50702942]People were cheating well before the era of social media. I don't see how this will help.[/QUOTE] Could be just me but third world countries tend to have governments that aren't particularly great at making logical decisions.

[QUOTE=Demache;50703653]Shit pissed me off sometimes. Every so often I got a question wrong, not because I failed to understand the concept, but because I did some basic algebra incorrectly because of a temporary case of dyslexia (I guess, I don't know what better way to put it). Something that wouldn't have happened if I had a calculator. At least I feel good about knowing I was right about one thing about the "you won't always have a calculator argument". You know the number of times I didn't have access to a basic calculator outside of school? Fucking never. Doesn't happen. Calculators are such a cheap commodity. Loads of things have a calculator just because they can. My father's tape measure has a solar powered one, and god knows how old that is. That argument stopped being relevant in the 90's. Before I was in preschool.[/QUOTE] This. Not only that, but our mathematics curriculum here in the United States was butchered with No Child Left Behind. To be fair, NCLB butchered our entire educational system-- which had been declining for years already. It's not about educating children and young adults to understand concepts and information anymore, it's about cramming their heads full of as much material as possible so they can take tests and hopefully perform well on those tests to pass them through school and produce pleasant-looking statistics (the latter still isn't happening; for example, [url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/top-reading_n_1373680]there's a startling number of high school students that aren't reading anything requiring above fifth-grade reading and comprehension skills because they simply do not have those skills[/url]; reading proficiency is painfully low in this country). It's about memorization, not actual understanding and practical application of concepts. Even though NCLB is gone, its rotten legacy is still very much infecting our school system. ESSA, its replacement, hasn't done much to improve upon its failings; it just gave the states more control. Whether or not kids use calculators on mathematics tests is the least of our problems lol. And like others here have said, it would make more sense for the Ethiopians to start installing jamming devices and shit in schools to keep students from being distracted by their phones.

[QUOTE=Protocol7;50703636]That's why you don't allow the fancy $400 CAS calculators on a Linear Algebra test, because those things can solve pretty much anything. Stopping students from using a $5 scientific calculator from Walmart doesn't spoil the content of the exam unless you're in the 3rd grade and learning multiplication for the first time.[/QUOTE] we used graphing calculators that can solve anything for every test

[QUOTE=FunnyStarRunner;50703730]Why not just get rid of entrance exams instead of social network access.[/QUOTE] Why are standardized university entrance exams even a thing? These don't exist in Canada and our universities are perfectly functional.

[QUOTE=uitham;50704417]we used graphing calculators that can solve anything for every test[/QUOTE] I had a precalculus teacher that wouldn't let us use calculators and gave us 47255*73892 or 29662*283 so often that It got to the point I hated the professor.i sat and literally calculated my grade and got a 93.1 for the A. [editline]14th July 2016[/editline] Guy was so old he had even started showing signs of Alzheimer's. Would forget where he was and whatnot. Said we'd never logically have calculators around us.

[QUOTE=da space core;50703337]I cheated by memorizing the material on the test beforehand, so I could get all the answers better ban that too. [sp] but seriously, how would this help anything anyways?[/sp][/QUOTE] I just wrote shit on my arm [sp]and then washed it off or rolled my sleeve down before the test so that I didn't cheat or get accused of it because I only used this method to study throughout the day[/sp]

[QUOTE=Sableye;50702882]The war on terrorism has fueled the[B] greatest[/B] crackdown on personal liberties in human history[/QUOTE] That's a tad bit sensationalist

My maths teacher showed me and a few friends how to ask each other questions and answer using the clicks and taps of our pens, only worked for the multiple choice questions though.