While schools are educational and knowledge centers in which there should be freedom of thought and will, sometimes they feel under the obligation of blocking specific websites to avoid students from accessing them.
Of course, the board of directors and, especially, the teachers, want to keep their students 100% focuses on the lessons being imparted, so they feel the need to eliminate all possible distractions for the classroom.
It shouldn’t be considered wrong by any means if a student wants to broaden his/her knowledge level while opening research pages or papers online. The Internet made its way to schools with that purpose. However, there are always students wanting to enter leisure sites such as Facebook, or access ethically dubious sites.
Bypass any firewalls with a VPN
To avoid the latter scenario, some schools decided to put a firewall on the online content they let their students access. Some have individually banned some pages, while others restrict Internet services altogether.
However, if you are a student who finished a lesson earlier than your peers, or you feel you need to access the World Wide Web for academic purposes, why shouldn’t you be able to do that? Fortunately, there is a workaround to solve the issue, and that is hiring the services of a VPN provider.
Virtual Private Networks (VPN) can let students access the sites they want because they can mask the location and connection information of the person using it. The school network won’t recognize the request as an internal one, thus allowing the customer to enter the sites and bypass restrictions successfully.
Of course, you may encounter some issues along the way. For example, your school might be one step ahead of you and could block access to VPN provider pages for you to sign up. In fact, the practice is implemented by several high schools and universities in the United States of America: they block VPN pages from connection attempts with the institution’s Wi-Fi connection.
In the present guide, we will tell you all about VPNs, how they can help you access pages from your educational institution, and which brands are more suitable for achieving that objective. We will give you a little teaser: the best VPN to unblock websites at school in 2018 are TorGuard, IPVanish, Private Internet Access, and GhostVPN.
Why do schools block websites?
School boards want their students to show the best learning outcomes in comparison with the competition, and to achieve high standards of academic success in the community. They want to make sure their pupils are widely recognized in the society for being the best and most prepared to deal both with higher levels of the educational pyramid and with the working environment.
To make sure these high standards of education are achieved, the students need to pay close attention to lessons without distractions that may disrupt the learning process. By these days, the Internet is the most annoying of distractive elements.
That is why school boards and teachers have sacrificed a valuable source of knowledge with the intention of gaining that extra attention to the lessons imparted at school. However, having access to the World Wide Web provides the key to thousands of knowledge and research sites.
Forbidding access to the Internet at school makes sure that kids and young people that are supposed to be learning, studying and reading can’t enter social media sites or shopping pages. However, it also prevents them from consulting several sources in their lessons.
By implementing a VPN at school, students can bypass the censorship and enter all kinds of websites. We can show you how, but if you are a student, try to use this resource for researching only, or if you have already finished your projects and assignments for the lesson.
Why do students need a VPN for school?
Suppose you are a student in high school, and you need to consult several sources to complete a recent essay or paper. Sure, you could go to the library and quote some relevant passages or authors in the matter, but the real access to knowledge is online. Not only you can find anything you want on the web, but also, theories and hypotheses are more up-to-date.
Bypass Firewalls
If you can’t have access to the web at your school because the board implements a firewall to prevent students from entering the Internet, you need a VPN to bypass those measures and research what you want or need to complete your homework or that critical assignment.
By definition and social standards, schools are supposed to focus on learning and studies only, but the knowledge shall flow in a free manner, not with limitations. Sure, it is understandable that schools need their pupils to pay attention to the lessons and avoid distractions, but by taking away the Internet, they are preventing people from handling valuable sources.
Use VPN since School Networks can be Unsafe
Students need a VPN to keep themselves safe when connecting to a public Wi-Fi, in this case, the school’s hotspot. Often, hackers target these types of connections to easily intercept them and steal credit card numbers, social media accounts, files, and other relevant things. VPNs can hide people’s IP address and traffic, and that way they will remain off-limits to any cybercriminals. If you don’t want a stranger deleting your thesis, or your term papers, protect yourself with the best privacy and anonymity measure available online.
By implementing robust encryption protocols and technologies, VPN can lend you a new IP address to use instead of your own, with the intention of remaining anonymous in your online ventures. Connect to a VPN to acquire another online identity, and you will see that you will be able to enter every site you want while being at school.
VPNs Allow you to Torrent or play Video Games
If you are feeling adventurous, and want to play online games or torrent in peace after you finish your work at your educational institution, then a VPN can also be of help. With a reliable brand, you will acquire the ability to unblock international sites and services (including playing titles) that wouldn’t be available in your location. You can also stream your favorite series while your classmates finish their test!
Of course, students should know that torrenting in particular is a hazardous activity that may infringe copyright laws. To avoid punishments of any kind, use a VPN to hide your real identity while you share P2P files.
How to hire a VPN to unblock websites at school in 2018
- Carefully assess the VPN market to determine which option works best for you, depending on factors such as geographical location, blocking and censorship measures, or price.
- If your preferred VPN provider’s page is blocked at your campus, go to a café or a friend’s house and start from there, or turn your mobile phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot (configure it as a router.)
- After you open your VPN provider’s website, sign up for the service while providing personal information and a payment method.
- Download the app or client of the VPN in your device or computer.
- After you have it on your device, launch the VPN app or client.
- Sign in with the credentials and information you provided in the registering phase.
- Connect to a server from another country or even state. The idea is to acquire a different IP address so that the internal school network doesn’t recognize your connection.
- Done! Now, you know how to use a VPN to unblock websites at school in 2018 and beyond.
Best VPN to unblock websites at school in 2018
TorGuard
Students love TorGuard because it provides extreme privacy and anonymity as they look to bypass school censorships. It implements AES 256-encryption, it successfully prevents DNS leaks, and it offers the opportunity to connect from sites and services of 55 nations around the world. It also allows five simultaneous connections, and it has excellent customer service in case you need any help.
IPVanish
If what you want is to stream or torrent while being in school, then IPVanish should be your top choice. It has excellent speeds and performance, and it is a hoot for advanced users, as it has various configurations and settings. IPVanish has 750 servers spread in 60 countries, with 40,000 IP addresses to give away. The package, which also includes DNS leak protection and a kill switch, costs $10 per month.
Private Internet Access
The “Budget” version of the reliable VPN services, PIA costs $6.95 when all the other alternatives listed here are currently at $10 per month. PIA has over 3,000 servers, top-end encryption and exciting features, including secure Wi-Fi connection, availability to connect five simultaneous devices, and content from 29 nations.
GhostVPN
Another fantastic option for schooler around the world, GhostVPN provides 1,600 servers in 51 countries, with OpenVPN support, AES 256-bit encryption, stealth VPN, and a handy 15-day money-back guarantee. It also has unlimited speeds, bandwidth, and server switching.
In conclusion, schools around the world are combating the rise of the Internet not because it is wrong per se, but because it can be a distractive element for students in their journey to absorb knowledge in a consistent basis.
However, the students need to access the web for various reasons, including research and school-related reading. To regain access and bypass censorship, they can obtain the services of a VPN to make the system believe the connection request is coming from another location, thus unblocking all sites and services.
