Hundreds of schools are installing CCTV cameras in classrooms

Hundreds of schools are installing CCTV cameras in classrooms

www.guardian.co.uk

In March this year, Sam Goodman, 18, walked out of his politics lesson to protest against four CCTV cameras that had been installed overnight in the classroom. He was joined by all but one of his classmates. Goodman says his school, an Essex comprehensive, told the class that the cameras had not been switched on yet, and that when they were, they'd be used for teacher training purposes only.

A few weeks later, Goodman says students discovered that the recording system was in a cupboard in the classroom and that the microphones were in fact on. Goodman and his friends promptly switched them

(visit the link for the full news article)



Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
Face scanners to be installed in schools

We have known for a while this was to happen, however as it seems from the article that children and parents are being misled regarding the intentions of these devices ..why am I not surprised.

Are parents so busy that they cant lobby their council or school to have these removed? Why are head teachers so spineless to let this unfold. If an 18 year old can have the gonads to speak out.. it's up to the parents and other adults.

I mean where does this information go to? if school data such as fingerprints for library books, retinal scans for school dinners is kept within the school...are not all school records to be linked to the contactpoint database system...

enough ..









www.guardian.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

I don't see a problem here.
If a student is doing something he shouldn't be doing and is busted for it. There will be proof.

On the other hand if a student is accused of doing something and he really wasn't. Then the tape will exonerate him.

Same deal with a Teacher.

There is video tape all over folks.
When you go to the Quicky mart, the atm and most large retail stores.

I'd rather be innocent and on video myself.

good idea!

Schools are for learning, and if your doing something illegal or wrong it should be on tape.

I hope audio is disabled however

Originally posted by ladysharrowandherbarrow

retinal scans for school dinners is kept within the school...are not all school records to be linked to the contactpoint database system...

enough ..

www.guardian.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Where are they doing retina scans for school dinners ?

second line ....

Another Brick In The Wall

Students who trust the government and do nothing wrong have nothing to fear.

Students who don't comply with their teachers' instructions, on the other hand, should be aware that they will receive a fair hearing and due consideration prior to being converted into a nutritious food source for students who behave themselves and don't ask difficult questions.

Um... we already abandoned any notion that civil rights applies to kids, when we allowed them to be searched before entering their schools. The motivation was to avoid kids bringing weapons to schools. The result was that we taught a whole generation of school children that, contrary to what our Constitution says, it's OK to subject them to unreasonable search and seizure.

CCTV? Not necessarily a bad idea, if the films are kept and made available in cases of an alleged event. The way things are now, if there is an incident in a class, the teacher almost alway wins, even when s/he's the one at fault. I'm not saying the kids are innocent little lambs who are always falsely accused. All I'm saying is that *sometimes* they are, and no one's going to believe it when it happens (just like happens when someone accuses a cop of misconduct). There are all sorts of videos on the Internet showing teachers who lose control and act like serious knuckleheads. No doubt it happens even when there's no camera.

As long as the school doesn't try to suppress the videos that make the teachers look bad, putting CCTV into the classrooms is likely to help the kids as much as anyone else.

I'm not saying we *should* have CCTV in the classrooms. I'm just saying that this decision was made when we let schools search our kids every day. Right then we had waived their rights. What did you expect - that it would stop at the searches?

We abandon the rights we don't care about. Eventually, the ones we do care about will be taken from us, if we continue to say nothing.

This is important imho.

The statement "If they aren't doing anything wrong it shouldn't matter" etc etc
It's not the answer. People who think this need to open their eyes to the EFFECT of the cameras. Conditioning our children into the Orwellian society which is becoming more apparent.

It's not about not getting caught.. it's about maintaining what little grip we have left on our ever decreasing human rights..... ALL THESE LITTLES ADD UP TO A LOT.

retinal scans for school dinners lots of info if you google it !


www.dailymail.co.uk...

www.telegraph.co.uk...

The scanner, as seen in movies such as Mission Impossible, is linked to a database which holds all the pupil's personal details, including what they can and cannot eat.
When they pick up their lunch, the scanner at the checkout picks up their details and an operator punches in each item on their tray.
But if they try to sneak through any snacks they are not allowed to eat, the computer rejects their choice and they have to return the food.
Pupil Jamie Hall, 12, said: "The scanner is a great idea, but I don't fancy my mum knowing exactly what I eat.

although schools seem to be upgrading to facial scans now



biometrics in schools

www.leavethemkidsalone.com...


this website shows all the schools that have or propose to use biometrics...

you can then scroll through the freedom of Information requests through alphabetical order...

interesting is the link and the personal accounts of some of the parents and children when they refuse to have the scans

Thu, 21 Sep 2006 School in Balham, London (name supplied to LTKA)"Fingerprinting took place in my daughter's school today without my knowledge or consent. When it came to my daughter's turn to be fingerprinted today she refused to get up off of her seat. Telling her science teacher that she will not be bullied... A voice came over the school loudspeaker system, informing the whole school that a child had refused to get it done and my daughter had to sit there fighting her principles, literally, whilst other children were laughing at her. But my daughter stood her ground... Well, I thought that this government have a strict policy on school bullying, whatever form of bullying takes place."

Professor Ross Anderson, an expert in security engineering at Cambridge University believes "some people in the Home Office like the idea of getting them young. Get children used, from an earlier stage, to the idea that they should have their fingerprints scanned. Kids are being softened up." If the control of government backed private finance in schools means that pervasive technologies are increasingly becoming the accepted norm for the next generation, what will the future look like in another 25 years?

www.guardian.co.uk...

and a fantastic read from the youth it concerns , although children as young as 4 are having biometric scans in school..

www.guardian.co.uk...

Adults are often quick to define the youth of today as stereotypical troublemakers and violent offenders – generalisations which are prompted by the media – when in fact the majority of students at our school are as responsible and arguably better behaved then the majority of adults. Some commentators insinuated that we overheard adults talking about rights and repeated it. That notion isn't worth the space it was typed upon. We are A-level politics students who have been studying civil liberties as part of the curriculum for the last two years. Sam campaigned for David Davis when he resigned over the issue of civil liberties and spoke at speakers' corner about the issue. The criticism of our campaign only serves to illustrate the ignorance of adults who have surrendered within only the last few years our right to protest in parliament, our right to go about our business without being stopped and questioned by police about our identity and our affairs, and our personal privacy.

Eroding standards in schools and deteriorating discipline are down to a broken society and the failure of the education system. The truth is that we are whatever the generation before us has created. If you criticise us, we are your failures; and if you applaud us we are your successes, and we reflect the imperfections of society and of human life. If you want to reform the education system, if you want to raise education standards, then watching children every hour of every day isn't the answer. The answer is to encourage students to learn by creating an environment in which they can express their ideas freely and without intimidation.

well said children!

reply to post by chiron613


I beg to differ.

I know so many teachers who are ready to quite the profession because kids get away with murder, yell at them, curse at them, threaten them and when the teachers try to do anything about it, the schools back them up because they are worried about lawsuits.

In my day, if the teach said you did something wrong, you got in trouble, whether it was right or wrong, and it kept you in line.

Now parents think their kids can do no wrong. Now there will be proof.

And as a result, you now have kids showing up to work in shorts as an intern on wednesday who think they should be a ceo by friday.

On the flip side, I have had mentally abusive teachers, who have no right to teach, and that is very damaging to kids. I have never forgotten those teachers.

There is a problem also with school stereotyping, latin and black kids are not considered to amount to anything, and are very rarely encouraged. While asian kids are always expected to be upstanding students and are given far more encouragement.

This will help keep it even.

School is a public place. Just like they can put red light cameras up, they can put cameras in public schools.

Originally posted by grey580
I don't see a problem here.
If a student is doing something he shouldn't be doing and is busted for it. There will be proof.

On the other hand if a student is accused of doing something and he really wasn't. Then the tape will exonerate him.

Same deal with a Teacher.

There is video tape all over folks.
When you go to the Quicky mart, the atm and most large retail stores.

I'd rather be innocent and on video myself.

Having been harassed by school teachers and the school administration while not at all being a trouble maker, but simply because of my views, I can tell you that this is not the best idea. It opens the door for students to be harassed for anything they do, from political views, religious views, or manner. Do you think that teachers view all students with an unbiased eye? Do you think the school administration does the same? If you believe that, then you sir are naive. Yes, a lot of students smart off to teachers, but this isn't going to solve that, if a kid doesn't want to be there, then get rid of the law that has mandatory attendance of public schools. Why should REAL trouble makers intrude on the learning of others? Maybe such a move would require those parents to actually...parent, and allow the teachers to actually...teach.

[edit on 5-8-2009 by yellowcard]

reply to post by ladysharrowandherbarrow


Hi, wanted to say great find. I know the UK is getting loaded up 1984 style, and that is the definite sucky thing.

Star, and Flag.

There's an easy way all People can stop this, and that's by saying No.

reply to post by ladysharrowandherbarrow


Aha. Good thing this is in UK. No surprise. Every week it's something new invasion into citizens lives.

You guys from the UK post about these Orwellian tactics perpetrated on your citizens and it gets me ticked off at your gov't. Flaming Rage would be understatement.

How dare they do this to you. How dare they.

I hope some citizens take it upon themselves to utterly shame and humiliate the Lords or whatever they are by posting toilet cams, nude pix of the Lords anything to get them back. Peacefully, and VERY humiliatingly (is that a word?)

Right, you brits are tolerant.

On the one hand, being from the generation of school shootings, I find that these cameras could be a great tool in helping catch people who are doing things they should not be, such as fighting, drug dealing, feeling each other up, things like that.

However, as a human being with inaliable rights, this does not bode well. We start filming these kids all the time, an all sorts of bad things will happen. One, we get them used to the government watching them all the time. Two, they get used to someone watching them when they should feel safe, intruding on their privacy. Not a future I want to live in.

I am an A level student at my school and well, let me say I have 7 different teachers in total, and only two of them would not lose their job because of having cameras in the classroom. The 5 that would, those are the better teachers too.


I can give brief examples of why each one would.

History: Amongst other things racist remarks about Germans....however these ARE all done completely tongue in cheek and we have a German in the classrom. (Hence the jokes) And if the teacher EVER thinks hes gone over the limit he apologises great amounts. In the classroom it gives a laugh, lets the students connects to the teacher and breaks up the lesson a bit....on camera he was racist and loses his job.


ICT: The teacher fully understands that people will get bored... people are aloud to have their i-pods on, people text other people, there is one person who usually has some portable speakers to put music on quietly. In the classroom it keeps us lively and interested....on camera the teacher has no control, is breaking the school rules and loses his job.

English (Both teachers.): We have to study many many books, and once again, the teachers know that is boring. So occasionally we will watch a film, have a 'fake lesson' where no real work is done, the lesson will end about 20 minutes after it started, etc. In the classroom the teachers are giving the students the break they need....on camera the teachers are ignoring their responsibilities and lose their job.


Media: Much the same with film watching, but also, when we have coursework, many times it can not easily be done in the classroom. So the teacher practically always allows you to not show up to the lesson to do coursework, though he is not actually allowed to do this. In the lesson he is actually allowing us to do our work properlly....On camera he is letting students skip his lessons and loses his job.



See how things can be completely flipped around and something good can look like something bad? We do NOT need CCTV cameras in our classroms, if the teacher is unable to keep an eye on the class then they are in the wrong job I'm afraid.

TO ADD:

Heck as early as year 9 (13/14 years old) I remember teachers who flirted with some of their students; of course it meant nothing...it usually happened when the student was a joker who flirted first to look 'cool' infront of the class and the teacher was continuing the joke to look better infront of the class. On camera though....not only is that losing your job...thats being arrested as a paedophile....

[edit on 19-8-2009 by StevenDye]

Originally posted by yellowcard


Having been harassed by school teachers and the school administration while not at all being a trouble maker, but simply because of my views, I can tell you that this is not the best idea. It opens the door for students to be harassed for anything they do, from political views, religious views, or manner. Do you think that teachers view all students with an unbiased eye? Do you think the school administration does the same? If you believe that, then you sir are naive. Yes, a lot of students smart off to teachers, but this isn't going to solve that, if a kid doesn't want to be there, then get rid of the law that has mandatory attendance of public schools. Why should REAL trouble makers intrude on the learning of others? Maybe such a move would require those parents to actually...parent, and allow the teachers to actually...teach.

[edit on 5-8-2009 by yellowcard]

Like i said. Video and also audio recording protects your innocence as well as revealing guilt.

Case in point are the cops from broward who were going to frame that one girl in the squad car but were caught on tape.

Whether or not a teacher has isue with your opinion is irrelevant to this conversation. And that situation would only strengthen my wish for a recording device to be present if someone in authority tried to harrass me.

I was relentlessly bullied in school, especially in class. They were good though, they knew how to evade detection by the teacher and could never be caught. I fully support cctv in classroms so these punk ass bullies can be ripped a new one.