Should Students be Allowed to Use the Internet During Assessments?

     Couldn't you just see this argument coming? Anything and everything  is looked up online. How many times a day do you look to Google to answer a question for you. I'd be embarrassed to say the number of times I do this. But just think of how satisfying it would it be to know the answer yourself. Can you imagine asking your doctor a question and the doctor saying, "Hold on, let me google that." This might seem extreme, but the reality is, in real life you can't just stop working, pull out your phone and ask Siri how to do something. We as a society decide to specialize in things in order to carve out a career. At least, that is the goal right? To find something you are interested in and enjoy and then make a living from that specialization. If we relied on technology for every  bit of knowledge we would become mindless drones, just going through the motions and following what the internet told us. Where would innovations and different ways of solving problems come from? If you think about it, relying solely on what is on the internet would result in a stagnant knowledge base and the end of progression all together!
   Okay, okay, lets all just take a breath now and come back to earth. I think my opinion is clear on the subject. I personally will not be allowing students to use the internet to answer questions in a test situation. I say this because I only plan on testing students in the typical sense on things I believe they should know and understand on their own. Science is a type of subject that builds on itself. You need to understand certain basic things to understand the next topic, so I can't see the benefit I would give to my students to be able to look up answers on the internet. I have always been on the side of technology in the classroom, but one of my reasons for this is that I believe a major part of my job as a teacher is to ready students to exit high school and into the world. Today's world is all about technology, so to not give my students an edge would be me not doing my job. However, I feel that having the internet available to the students on an assessment a step too far.
    I understand the argument that having the internet available allows students to answer more critical thinking types of questions. I might be able to see that stretch in certain subjects with a highly evolved teacher, but I just can't see it fitting into my classroom. What's wrong with critically thinking with the information you have learned in class? Aren't assessments suppose to judge the student and the teacher on the material present? I acknowledge that this could be considered the same as an open book test, but I was never an advocate of that either. Knowing how to look up information is a skill that is necessary and should be taught and tested, but I don't feel it should be included on every assessment. The internet is an imperative tool for projects and problem based learning so it will definitely have a huge place in my classroom, but just not for tests. Even as I am writing this I can feel myself being slightly closed minded, thinking back to my school experience where the internet was not as readily available. I will not judge teachers that allow this method,, more power to them! I promise to keep my mind open to any arguments for the topic. However, as of right now, on this topic only, I am going to remain with an old school aura about me.