So often kids misbehave in classrooms and think they can get away with it. Parents rarely take responsibility for their childrens' actions when trouble makers are brought to parent-teacher conferences. Disruptive behavior can reduce efficiency of education. What if small, low quality cameras were put near the clocks at the head of classrooms? A small recording would settle any disputes quickly and easily. Kids would think twice before acting up, knowing they would be caught on tape. This has been done on school buses for years, but I dont think it is widely adapted in classrooms except for crime-prevention. I'm talking about regular old trouble making. It would also make teachers think twice about what they say to their kids that could get them in trouble.
I know it sounds a bit like Big Brother but the tapes would only go for like 10 hours (for 1 school day) and then write over it. And they would only be used when there was a dispute over what happened. Not like a big room watching all the classrooms or anything like that. If youve ever been employed in education you know how big a deal disputes over behavior can be. They take up a large chunk of taxpayer money with all the time they take up!! What if we could end the disputes by clicking a button; less arguing, more truth.
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Although classroom cameras may perform the function of neutral witnesses to a useful degree the concept that this is a "big brother" interference in what might be termed public privacy, it is, in fact, a pro-civilized instrument when employed, not to enforce dictatorial powers, but to provide evidence of misbehavior on the part of miscreants.Many news reports indicate that the police are particularly sensitive to neutral witnesses as in the case of the recent Oakland riots where the police confiscated most of the cameras which showed the police murder of a helpless victim. The general dissemination of cameras in the public has, if anything, proved a curb on the bad behavior of both criminal and police behavior and the almost routine confiscation of cameras by authorities that indicate authority misbehavior is a clear indication the cameras are a good thing.
I think they should include the hallways, lunchrooms and gyms. There are a lot of crimes commited in school halls, especially assaults.
People would hate the Big Brother aspect, but it seems like its time to roll out pilot projects to the most violent schools & see if we can make things better. I wonder what the teachers union would say.