Why Teachers Want to Ban Cellphone Cameras From Classrooms
A bill that would create a task force to study the impact of cellphone cameras and video-recording devices in Connecticut classrooms has sparked a debate between educators who say the captured content can be harmful to their careers and those who say that restricting what images students can document might lead to battles over free speech.
The state's largest teachers union is leading the push for state lawmakers to intervene. Union leaders say imposing limits on the use of cameras and other recording devices in school might be necessary to prevent damaging videos and pictures from ending up on Facebook and YouTube. The Hartford Courant reports that there are thousands of these videos online. One pokes fun at a Connecticut high school physics teacher who is shown "flailing his arms, short-hopping across the classroom, then pushing against the wall" in an attempt to demonstrate how molecules move. The problem is that the surreptitiously shot video doesn't carry the teacher's explanation of the principles, only the sound of instrumental music. The teacher, who had no knowledge of the video's existence until the newspaper contacted him, has since asked a former student to take it off the Web. Still, the union says that secret recordings of teachers are an "increasing concern" and that they can hurt teachers' reputations and put minors at risk.
Legal experts argue that teachers have a limited expectation of privacy in the classroom. They say that attempts to regulate what students can film or record can provoke free speech challenges. In some cases, students have used recording devices to capture teachers behaving inappropriately. A Connecticut high school math teacher was suspended in 2006 after a cellphone video that appeared on the Internet showed him hurling a homophobic slur at a student.
The state legislature is likely to decide whether to move forward with the bill by April 6.
Do you think that students should not be allowed to bring cellphones and other recording devices to school?
Tags: Connecticut | cellphones | public schools | teachers | education
Tools: 
Share
|
| Comments (15) | Print
Reader Comments
cameras in schools
I don't believe cell phone cameras should be permitted Cin schools, but I do believe schools should have cameras in every classroom. It would be beneficial to both the student and the teacher. I believe that if the teacher and the student both knew that their actions were bing video taped, it would encourage both parties to behave in a more civil manor. I know all of our children are not lil angels in the classroom but I also know that all teachers are not without fault. They go through life experiences like everyone else and sometimes it can affect their behavior towards the childen in the classroom.
teachers should be given video cameras as well
If students are going to be permitted to bring still and video cameras into the classroom, teachers should be given the opportunity to bring video cameras into the classroom too.
Then when they are thrown out of class for disrupting the learning environment or are caught cheating the prrof will be there.
When parents deny that little Sally is anything less than a perfect child, the teacher can roll the video for the parent.
Perhaps if we are to allow students to video the teacher and post this online, the teacher should be given the ability to post what the teacher's camera captures for the BOE, parents and future employers to view and comment on.
Cameras in the classroom could work out well. At last we could see who put that tack on teacher's chair.
advertisement
