It is sad that it has become so common for children to falsely accuse people in authority. I seem to recall that several women in Salem were accused of being witches by girls in town that just didn’t like them. So it isn’t new behavior, but it is more prevalent and harder to put behind you.
Now that the technology exists, I wouldn’t have a problem with digital audio and video recordings of everything that happens in a classroom. Parents could access it to verify their kids are behaving and learning in classrooms, but it would also be a record for teachers to defend themselves with against false accusations. The kids would learn that they can’t get away with lying.
As a teacher, how would you feel about every minute of your classroom being recorded from several angles and archived forever ? You’d be opening yourself up to criticism by admin and parents of how you do your job.
Outside the classroom, it’s tempting to record every minute of your own life on audio and video for your own protection. Timestamping every frame of video would account for every second of every day and be an alibi if wrongly accused of a crime. Unfortunately it is currently a violation of wiretap laws to record anybody without their express permission. Cops actually arrest people trying to video their own traffic stop, for example.
I have considered audio taping every one of my classes, but after checking into NYS law, it seems you can’t tape minors. They can submit fallacious statements which really can lead to a teacher being fired, but a teacher can’t tape them because they’re minors. If “minors” are SO believable and their adult professional teacher is not, then WHY does the State mandate that the state regents exams must be proctored very strictly to prevent cheating? How can they be believable for one thing and not for another?