# Iowa (and other states) laws propose to video monitor public education **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 5, 2022, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-and-other-states-laws-propose-to-video-monitor-public-education/958963 "2022-02-05T15:31:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-and-other-states-laws-propose-to-video-monitor-public-education/958963/41 "2022-02-07T14:07:07Z")
> [@Crane](#): > > Could this practice be beneficial to public education? If running out of teachers is “beneficial” then, yes, it is. I can’t speak for other areas of the country but, outside of the highest paying elite districts, districts here in Chicagoland are suffering a teacher shortage already. You can expect it to get worse because fewer and fewer people are opting for that profession in college. It is becoming more and more of a nightmare profession, and the money simply isn’t worth the ordeal. An actual benefit, however, would be that parents would actually see how their “darlings” behave in class. It would be a real eye opener for many of them, believe me. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-and-other-states-laws-propose-to-video-monitor-public-education/958963/42 "2022-02-07T14:14:28Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > Fair point. But I have to think that the party that has been pushing “freedom” and against “Big Brother” so hard for the last year will find it a bit hard to pivot to “And let’s put cameras in every classroom in America!”. At some point the cognitive dissonance gets too loud and heads explode, right? Right??? Nope. The same people who were complaining that removing statues was “erasing history” are actively making teaching actual history illegal. The same people who loudly “backed the blue” when police were murdering black people were fine with the 140 police officers injured on January 6 and are calling Ashley Babbitt a “martyr”. They claim to defend the Constitution but keep pushing prayer in schools, they say they want fiscal responsibility but will happily run up the deficit while in office, etc etc etc. And basically the answer is always: IOKIARDI. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-and-other-states-laws-propose-to-video-monitor-public-education/958963/43 "2022-02-07T15:12:47Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > “And let’s put cameras in every classroom in America!” They are working on the North Korean model. But with better bandwidth. Trump claims that Kim Jong-un loves him! I’m sure Putin does as well. ---
**Author:** ![excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e8c25b/32.png) [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-and-other-states-laws-propose-to-video-monitor-public-education/958963/44 "2022-02-07T15:34:34Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Helicopter parenting, survelliance edition. I wonder what drives it. > > With some of these parenting trends, it’s easy to see where they came from - a generation that grew up relatively poor may have a tendency to lavishly overspend on their own children so they will not lack the things that the parents lacked, and wished for - and as a result, you get a generation containing rather an abundance of spoilt little brats. > > This one though, I dunno. What’s driving it is pretty clear, at least to me. In the Right-Wing world, the schools are indoctrinating these kids with Left-Wing, Marxist, Communist, Anti-God beliefs. Brain washing them. To their minds, this is why these Leftists are trying so hard to teach CRT to the little ones, since it is common knowledge that all CRT is about is how every single white person is bad merely by being white and if you’re not white, then you have some mystical (anti-God) aura about you that gives you an undeserved superiority over the whites. That is what they are trying to stop. They want to be sure their kids are not taught such anti-Christian beliefs such as treat others as you would want to be treated, or that even the least fortunate among us deserve the most compassion, or love your enemies. None of that garbage. Fortunately, I don’t think any of these proposed laws have any hope of being passed. Just like all the Right-Wingers that were elected to school boards around the country are going to have much effect. They’ll bark a lot, try to get people who don’t think like they do fired, but when it comes down to actually doing any work about education, they are not going to do anything but obstruct. That’s their game. They don’t want an educated populace since educated folks tend to think for themselves. If you can keep them uneducated, they’re more likely to think what you tell them to think. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-and-other-states-laws-propose-to-video-monitor-public-education/958963/45 "2022-02-07T15:38:20Z")
I assigned this topic to my seniors this morning as an analysis essay. We’ll see what genuine students have to say about the idea. Somehow I don’t think they are going to like it much… ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-and-other-states-laws-propose-to-video-monitor-public-education/958963/46 "2022-02-07T15:46:58Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Who’s going to monitor all these webcams? Who’s going to watch them? I don’t think being monitored 100% of the time is the point. It’s really just a technological version of Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon and people will never know when or if they’re even being monitored. The mere existence of the cameras will change the behavior of teachers, and possibly students, which is the desired effect. i.e. It’s about social control. ---
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-and-other-states-laws-propose-to-video-monitor-public-education/958963/47 "2022-02-07T15:52:54Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I assigned this topic to my seniors I look forward to the result ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-and-other-states-laws-propose-to-video-monitor-public-education/958963/48 "2022-02-07T17:05:45Z")
> [@Crane](#): > > I look forward to the result Likewise. > [@Odesio](#): > > It’s about social control. And hive mind thinking. None of this individualism, that’s bad. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-and-other-states-laws-propose-to-video-monitor-public-education/958963/49 "2022-02-07T18:03:29Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I assigned this topic to my seniors this morning as an analysis essay I hope you’ll consider asking them if you can post here some of their thoughts. I would be very interested in them. Carefully blinded for privacy, obviously. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-and-other-states-laws-propose-to-video-monitor-public-education/958963/50 "2022-02-07T23:12:37Z")
Some kids, knowing they’re on camera, would act up even more. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-and-other-states-laws-propose-to-video-monitor-public-education/958963/51 "2022-02-07T23:16:29Z")
I started a thread about a comparable topic a few months ago. > [@Why do many conservatives paint the entire public school system with a broad brush?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-conservatives-paint-the-entire-public-school-system-with-a-broad-brush/943657): > > In short, they talk about it like it’s some kind of disease? I do suspect that a lot of it is because they’re afraid of their children being exposed to “those people”, whatever that may mean, or being taught something that might lead to them questioning their parents’ views? ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-and-other-states-laws-propose-to-video-monitor-public-education/958963/52 "2022-02-07T23:25:01Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Having read the entire thread, I saw a reference or two to teacher’s strikes. Those are illegal in Iowa, and AFAIK always have been. How’s that work? If all 38,000 teachers go on strike they…what empty the schools of teachers? Pack the jails with teachers? ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-and-other-states-laws-propose-to-video-monitor-public-education/958963/53 "2022-02-07T23:28:19Z")
They’d probably lose their jobs and have to pay sizable fines. This is one of the few Tom Green clips that is SFW. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/LuPmJTa_8-w/hqdefault.jpg "Tom Green interviews Teachers during Strike") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuPmJTa_8-w) ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-and-other-states-laws-propose-to-video-monitor-public-education/958963/54 "2022-02-07T23:45:20Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > They’d probably lose their jobs and have to pay sizable fines. But that’s the thing, right? So they’d basically just cancel public schooling? And if the teachers agree to not pay the fines as part of the death pact, then what? They all go to jail? Is there that much room in Iowa jails? And isn’t there a law somewhere saying Iowa has to provide public schooling to all K-12 kiddles? Seems like whomever is in charge of making that happen would be in deep doodoo. In a perfect world, that happens. And then the parents create an unignorable clamor for school vouchers (another right wing fetish), so rather than providing free education, everyone gets a check to spend at a private school. Meanwhile all these unemployed teachers set up a few thousand private schools (tuition = the amount of your voucher) where the Right Wingers have even LESS influence, and the next thing you know…scholars everywhere! Maybe. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-and-other-states-laws-propose-to-video-monitor-public-education/958963/55 "2022-02-08T02:42:30Z")
> [@bump](#): > > How would they know, unless we’re talking about some community small enough for everyone to know you? I mean, I could show up to a school board meeting, and nobody would know whether I have kids or not, unless I make a point of saying it. Have you been to a school board meeting? The people who do are a pretty small community, and they do know eachother. PTA members and such. If you are a new face, they will come up and want to get to know you, who your kids are, what age and school they go to, and so forth. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-and-other-states-laws-propose-to-video-monitor-public-education/958963/56 "2022-02-08T15:02:40Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I assigned this topic to my seniors this morning as an analysis essay. Prepare to hear from some upset parents, quite possibly via your principal. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-and-other-states-laws-propose-to-video-monitor-public-education/958963/57 "2022-02-08T15:21:00Z")
Could go either way in this town. We shall see. But parents and students alike were warned at the start of the year that I was going to yank their chains on occasion, and that they shouldn’t construe any essay or discussion topic as reflecting my personal beliefs, or those of the district. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-and-other-states-laws-propose-to-video-monitor-public-education/958963/58 "2022-02-08T15:35:47Z")
Not the board meeting, just the community meetings about the bond proposals the district was trotting out. I mean, I knew SOME of the people there, but the district has nearly 40k students, so there were a lot of people who I didn’t know, and I imagine that it would be easy enough to show up if you weren’t a parent, and not have anyone question you. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-and-other-states-laws-propose-to-video-monitor-public-education/958963/59 "2022-02-08T16:05:36Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > Fair point. But I have to think that the party that has been pushing “freedom” and against “Big Brother” so hard for the last year will find it a bit hard to pivot to “And let’s put cameras in every classroom in America!”. At some point the cognitive dissonance gets too loud and heads explode, right? Right??? Maybe not. It’s all “Freedom for me, not for thee!” People who can insist on the freedom of parents to have the ability to let their kids infect objecting other people’s kids probably aren’t going to blink when told that their freedom to watch the classroom overrides anybody else’s freedom to not be watched. > [@enipla](#): > > > [@Crane](#): > > > > I look forward to the result > > Likewise. Me too. I don’t know to what extent you can legitimately publicize them. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-and-other-states-laws-propose-to-video-monitor-public-education/958963/60 "2022-02-08T16:13:34Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Not the board meeting, just the community meetings about the bond proposals the district was trotting out. Yeah, board meetings are usually quite a bit smaller, unless there is something controversial going on. > [@bump](#): > > I knew SOME of the people there, but the district has nearly 40k students That’s not differing from a _small_ district, that’s a _huge_ district. Ohio only has one larger, and only a few of close to the same size. The district I was at had around 20k students, it comes in in the top 10 in the state. So, not exactly small. And at most of the meetings I went to, there were a couple dozen at most, usually less. It was worse when I was supporting a friend running for school board, and I went to a meeting that I wasn’t in the district of. People thought that I shouldn’t even be allowed to be there. > [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I don’t know to what extent you can legitimately publicize them. I see teachers publicizing the work of their students all the time. Lots of memes are made of 3rd grade answers to things, and stuff like that. Obviously, names and personal identifiers would need to be redacted, and I would probably ask permission, even though that may not be necessary, it would still be respectful. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-and-other-states-laws-propose-to-video-monitor-public-education/958963.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iowa-and-other-states-laws-propose-to-video-monitor-public-education/958963.md?page=4)