Youtube at primary

[PlanetEarth]

So it seems that at my daughter's primary (top year), when they have finished their work they sometimes get to watch funny clips on Youtube . When I was young (OK so it was before computers were invented ) we'd read a book or do extra maths (was never a fan of the extra maths mind you).

Am I alone in thinking watching Youtube at primary school is pretty inappropriate and there are far better ways they could spend their time?

I don't think primary kids should be watching Youtube, regardless of what kind of netnanny software the school have in place, I have managed to view much stuff on Youtube that I would not be happy for my kids to see, despite having supposedly very good controls in place on our computers.

I also am worried about youtube as my ds (y3) has taken home the message that it is appropriate for kids under all circumstances - I guess they have more stringent controls at school, because with the ones that I have at home, if you 'allow' youtube, they don't block off what I would deem unsuitable content, (though I haven't experimented with anything really obnoxious to check, just noted that unsuitable stuff has appeared in the list. We therefore have arguments - I think that you have just prompted me to do some proper research into whether parental controls do work, and what the school does, so thanks, Planetearth!

My experience (I visit a lot of schools) is that YouTube is one of the many sites blocked in most primary schools. So I am surprised about this.

Youtube is banned at our Primary School, so the kids cannot access it even if they tried due to the filter.

"Am I alone in thinking watching Youtube at primary school is pretty inappropriate and there are far better ways they could spend their time?"
If the teacher wants to stick them in front of the TV, there are some interesting things on YouTube, like this:

Our school blocks youtube, but some of the teachers download videos at home, which they can then save in a shared folder so they are available for all classes to view.

Youtube is blocked here but I have downloaded material to use in class ... I used an except from the Firebird ballet last year and I've also used The Highwayman from Youtube

I actually think a blanket ban on Youtube is a bit of a blunt instrument, as there is plenty of useful stuff on there. Is there no way of banning inappropriate content while keeping access to stuff which would actually be useful?

The Highwayman animation is brilliant, isn't it, mrz? My class love The Lego Highwayman, also on Youtube!

As an occasional treat, I don't see why the children couldn't watch something previously downloaded. But our children are always supervised when they are on the internet, so it's something we would probably do together. And they are more likely to have a suitable extension task than a video treat!

The only safe way to filter is by inclusion rather than exclusion - ie to allow specific videos by entering their URL into the 'allowed' category on the filter interface.

If you try to do it by excluding innappropriate terms you will soon find something you missed, or something nasty uploaded under an innocuous description - don't forget, the filter can't actually detect the content of the video, it can only go by the tags. I do sometimes allow specific videos if the teachers give me the URL in time, rather than in the middle of the lesson when they discover it won't play ("it was all right when I tried it at home....")
That's why I gave them the YouTube downloader (available from cnet) which allows them to download the videos at home and also if they want, to convert them to a different format.

Oh, and a word of warning - I heard the other day of a rogue link on YouTube (one of the ones in the column on the right, to related videos) It wasn't a link to a video at all, but clicking on it installed 11 bits of malware & 8 different viruses in a few seconds. So do make sure your anti-virus software is up to date.....

It's not just the dodgy videos either, there are also plenty of harmless videos on youtube that have foul comments on them...

Our school uses youtube all the time and it really infuriates me because my kids expect to be able to view it at random at home.

There is a lot of really good educational stuff on there but I believe children need to be supervised on it.

Its also great to getting reviews and instructions on how to use products s

Rusty - you are right there. The scum of the earth seem to inhabit the Comments section on YouTube videos. I've never seen so much illiterate, ill-informed, racist nastiness in my life!

Sorry, that was to PlanetEarth, not Rusty.