They’re going to have a hard time implementing this in a way that doesn’t fall afoul of federal privacy laws. Last year when a lot of schools were wholly or partially virtual, they had to be very careful with those laws. According to at least some interpretations, teachers couldn’t even refer to students by name while microphones were on.
True, people probably aren’t going to park themselves in front of the stream, but it’ll almost surely be recorded. The problem is going to be when someone’s kid says they learned about something the parent doesn’t want them learning about (ie racism) and instead of going to their friends/school board with a 3rd grader’s account of what the teacher said, they have a recording of it. This would be especially helpful if the district bans teaching about certain subjects or the school board just wants to pressure certain teachers to quit.
In addition to watching teachers there will be parental units going apeshit about what the little dickens are up to in class. They’ll be the biggest tattle tales and gossips about behaviors they deem unsuitable for children and will want to further involve themselves in the classroom setting to protect their own or to influence the removal of some kids they flat out don’t like.
All of this because Republicans are afraid to confront that American history doesn’t reflect all that rosily on white people, and therefore want to gloss over the teaching of the ugly stuff. Republicans are such snowflakes who require a cocoon or shelter from the truth. Pathetic.
Next up: an audiometer on each student, to measure the decibel level when they Fundie-style scream the “under God” part of the pledge.
Over 115 decibels? A big Christian side-hug for you when you get home!
Like, I’m not at all in favor of this plan/think it’s appalling, but I am honestly not sure there would be even one or two, most of the time. These sorts of parents are really fucking lazy. They want someone else to find the recreational outrage.
I’d be more worried about a certain type of parent forcing their kid to rewatch every video for extra practice.
At this point, because of COVID. I DO post a recorded version of 90% of my lessons. They don’t get a lot of views
Since I tend to wander about the classroom during lessons, they’d have to install complete coverage. Including all the students. All the time. My seniors would riot, and I would join them.
A complete non-starter here in California. All it would take would be 1 parent refusing to allow their kid to be video-taped (or streamed) in any way, shape or form to scuttle the whole deal.
No… the idea is that since the children aren’t developmentally or legally able to make those sorts of decisions, the parents are doing it for them. So even though the child benefits the most, it’s the parents acting in their stead/on their behalf that actually make those decisions. So it’s 2 out of 3 most of the time
The problem comes in when the parents want stuff that goes against all good sense and even against known facts, because they have a certain religious or ideological bent of their own. I mean intelligent design is something that public schools should NEVER consider teaching, but there are a lot of people who are, or at least were, determined that it was a reasonable alternative to evolution, because of their own religious beliefs.
I honestly don’t see how that relates to anything I wrote. I was perfectly aware that children do not vote in elections. They were not the “idiot’s vote” I was referring to.
And I do agree that this is the problem. Unfortunately, the votes of those parents who do think intelligent design belongs in the classroom and those who don’t want Maus in the curriculum count just as much as the parents who are pro science.
Of course. And that is the goal of many that are proposing these laws - forcing parents into the parochial school system. Their actual enemy isn’t just CRT or whatever - it’s public education as an institution.
This is also absolutely right. Parents couldn’t be bothered to help their kids during COVID, so why do we think they will watch lessons now? The primary, and perhaps only, tangible effect of these laws will be causing more teachers to quit.
But again, in some ways that is the point. Many parents, and many politicians, honestly hate public school teachers teachers. You don’t have to talk to them for long before that becomes readily apparent.
I didn’t say it would be parents. Just people out to find something to be outraged about.
And, as pointed out by @chela, if little Timmy comes home and says that they learned that America used to enslave other people, then the parents will go to that time of the day in order to find out why the teacher is making him feel guilty for being white.
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.
That I suspect, is what will ultimately kill all this. Someone else’s desire to monitor their children’s teacher doesn’t trump my child’s right to privacy (as asserted through me, the parent). My district already has options on the enrollment forms to allow or disallow the child’s image to be on social media, TV, educational videos, etc… and I would imagine that there would be lawsuits galore if the state governments said “Yeah, that’s all good, except for when we broadcast it to the world. You can’t opt out of that.”
Or maybe, to protect privacy and keep the government out of it, the classes will be monitored by a corporation. One that is hired by, and reports to, the school board. Any dismissals could be directed by the school board. Without disclosure of cause, in order to protect privacy.
Exactly. It’s not about education but rather catching that teacher that one time in 40 years of exemplary teaching going to the student being a complete asshole and say, “What the fuck are you doing?”
As an Iowa resident, the stupidity of our “governor”, Covid Kim, never fails to amaze me.
Who’s going to monitor all these webcams? Who’s going to watch them?
I can’t find a link to a video about the story, but one local TV station interviewed the owner of a local dance studio that did have a webcam, one with very restricted access. That’s just not the same thing, although it’s the same concept.
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.
When I was a kid in the 1970s, we’d always ask the teachers at the beginning of the year why they hadn’t gone on strike, and we finally stopped asking when one teacher pointed out that if they did, we’d just have to go longer in the spring.
Who’s going to pay for them? And all the bandwidth?
At least in the Iowa bill, according to the Yahoo article, they will be bought using “already allocated funds”.
So, ya know, money that was supposed to be spent on books and desks and things that would actually help improve education in the state.
This is such a transparent overreach that I kind of hope the GOP really starts pushing for it. It feels like political suicide. But then again I never thought the idea of firing a teacher because they pointed out that “slavery is bad” would ever catch on either, yet here we are…
I’ve long since given up on the hope that there is a line the GOP can cross that will be “political suicide”. As long as FoxNews and other right-wing media keep brainwashing their viewers accordingly, the GOP will continue to have free rein up to and including committing violent insurrection.
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???