LAUGH
Should teachers wear body cameras? I know. “What in the actual #$@$?”
Body cameras on teachers were first brought up by Tucker Carlson who wished to prevent the mass indoctrination of our student populations. Trust us, Tucker, the only thing we wish to indoctrinate students on is how to be respectful, kind, responsible human beings.
Well, my first inclination about body cameras would be to say,” That is the absolute most ludicrous idea I have ever heard in my whole entire life.”
What about FERPA?
What about the privacy of teachers who know the administration will be combing through hours and hours of footage to catch us at approximately 25 minutes and 10 seconds in when we briefly glance at our phones to read a text from a parent? Or, if we decide to show a movie?
And, forget about sitting down for a moment to grade a paper. We will have to strap it on “The Reliable Student” to walk in the direction of the on-task students.
So, that’s the bad, but then I begin to visualize the below benefits of body cameras.
Cameras don’t lie… “Dear parents, let me play it back for you so you can see what really happened.”
We all know that what kids tell their parents is like a game of telephone. Somehow the truth becomes distorted into an imaginative story of what actually occurred. Unless they can get telepathic information, I didn’t tell your child to, “Sit the f- down.”
No matter how you spin it, the cameras don’t lie.
We might actually get some help if people see how kids really behave in class.
In order to get a student some extra assistance in the form of counseling, aides, or a different placement, we must document, document, document for months.
Well, a picture is definitely worth a thousand words. When others see chairs flying across classrooms and the detriment to the entire learning environment that one student can cause, maybe, just maybe, the paperwork can be waived.
Everyone will finally see how much we really do every day.
You thought the video from police body cams was bad; ours is shakier than footage from the Blair Witch Project. We run all over our classrooms helping our students to learn.
Our dedication to our craft will be apparent.
“Teacher-Baiting” would be exposed!
Lately, students have been baiting teachers to react, so they can catch their reaction on video and post it as a form of entertainment. With body cameras, everyone will be able to see that the teachers in question actually used considerable restraint when dealing with provocation in the form of outrageous student behaviors.
Legislators might realize we have too many students.
When legislators are presented with videos of classroom lines that extend the length of the entire hallway or the level of noise when students are actually using their inside voices, maybe they will think to fund education, I don’t know, ADEQUATELY.
These kids aren’t so angelic now, are they?
We always hear. “Well, he certainly doesn’t do that at home,” implying we are making up stories. Well, now we have 100 percent proof that they most definitely do “that” at school. And it is worse than we actually are able to describe in words.
We might just get a little more appreciation…
…when parents see how we treat their children like our own, how we inspire, provide extra help, connect, and go way beyond our expected duties for our students every single exhausting day.
Yeah, I guess cameras could be quite helpful if used in the correct way.
