All parents cannot get away from work to visit their kids’ classrooms (and many students, especially middle school and older would be absolutely mortified if mommy came to school to visit the class). Part of the reason for the cameras is to help ensure that some of the behavior won’t occur JUST AS IF a parent or other person were there to observe. As for putting the planned antics on youtube, that is done now by students with video phones, so that horse is out of the barn.
Do you really believe that a webcam in the classroom will have the same effect of the parent being physically present in the classroom? That's no better than wishfull thinking. The students who would be cowed by a camera would not be the ones that need to be watched in the first place.
As for putting the planned antics on youtube, that is done now by students with video phones, so that horse is out of the barn.
So, let's just increase the opportunities of those students who would engage in bad behavior in order to get it on the web by placing these web cams in the classroom. No thank you.