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Should we install classroom surveillance cameras to reduce discipline problems?[YES]Desperate times call for desperate measures! My school serves lower socio-economic, mostly Caucasian students. When all else has failed to persuade chronic problem stu-dents, I favor using cameras, because:
Teachers should not feel intimidated by the camera. Sadly, in very extreme cases where you are working with mental illness, or severe OD, ADHD, etc., the student likely will feel challenged by the camera and will temporarily act out worse than before. If so, it is time to question whether or not the school can continue to serve that student. Sharon Moore The camera in the classroom could work both ways for parents and for teachers. Situations that have been brought up as complaints can be reviewed by the videotaping. Although it would make me self-conscious, sometimes that's not a bad thing. Michelle Baehr I teach a self-contained emotionally disturbed group, grades 6, 7, 8. I tell parents and administrators to visit anytime. I would not mind cameras. Students would rethink how they are acting after watching themselves. This is the wave of the future. Disrespect has run wild! No punishment, but self-awareness consequences. Some may take advantage of video and act the "class clown," but I don't think that would last. I once had a kindergartner who was diagnosed autistic. I would videotape him, with parent support, at least 30 minutes per day. The family and I agreed he would view himself daily at least 15 minutes an evening. It took time, but in two and a half years, he was a congenial, pleasant, and delightful person! He inspired my career in special education. Patrick Tavarez After eight difficult weeks, I bought and installed a $70 camera and monitor. I attach it from time to time to a VCR. Has it helped? Yes. The youths with the worst behavior stay in their seats more. They are still verbally rude--but less. It saddens me that I have done this--it's not what I became a teacher for a dozen years ago. Andrew Davis [NO]A surveillance camera might help in schools where there is a lot of outright criminal behavior right in the classroom, but we never have serious crimes in my school. I am more concerned that the cameras would be used against teachers--to remove the last elements of academic freedom we have left and subject us to continual scrutiny. As Benjamin Franklin said, "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Early in my teaching career, I invited my students to write their first day-of-school-feelings on butcher paper. My principal came in, found the one inappropriate phrase that I had not seen, and told me I should not have had this activity. Other administrators have been caught listening to classes over the intercom. The most egregious invasion was the use of a tape in firing a Missouri teacher, Cecilia Lacks, in 1995. She had her inner-city English class write and perform plays using their own manner of expression. Her principal seized a videotape and she was fired for letting the students use profanity. The United States Court of Appeals supported the school district. No, I do not want security cameras in my room. Give me training in discipline methods, non-violent physical restraint, and self-defense instead. David Mason Teachers are held accountable enough with all the testing and assessing we have to do now. I do not want another method of judging my professionalism. Linda Lopienski In this time of heightened awareness of civil liberties, I don't think cameras in classrooms would make it out of a courtroom. Cris Willmarth
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