Cameras in schools? Go for it!

NY Daily News ^ | 8/31/03 | Bill O'Reilly

[Invasionofthebodysnatchers]

Eons ago, when I was a little kid, I dreaded this time of year because school was about to start. You see, unlike many tykes today, I hated school. I loathed going there and having to work my butt off. I wanted my self-esteem considered. I wanted social promotion. I wanted nurturing and understanding. But nooooo, all I got was more homework.

My grammar school class at St. Brigid's on Long Island was packed: 60 students and one small nun with a large ruler. Here's a joke: How can you tell a male who attended Catholic school? One earlobe is longer than the other. The nuns used my right earlobe like a slot machine handle.

But by second grade, all 60 kids in Sister Claudia's class could read, write and do basic math. We also understood that we'd go to hell if we got out of line. That didn't deter me much, but most of my classmates appeared nervous.

The result of this kind of education was literacy and a basic kind of discipline. We had to perform. We had to learn. There was no choice. And we were all working-class kids with parents who cared but were exhausted and had little inclination to micromanage their kids as many parents do today.

So I learned at St. Brigid's, despite being dense and surly. In fact, I was a member of the dumb row. But even the dumb rowers knew the state capitals. Can you imagine a teacher imposing a dumb row concept today?

Each year in America there is another school controversy, and this season it's placing cameras in classrooms and hallways to watch students and teachers. They are doing this in Biloxi, Miss., and officials there say it has cut down on bad behavior and even bad teaching.

As a former high school teacher, I, at first, opposed the camera idea. Big brother and all that. But then I rethought, and now I am on board for one big reason: Having the camera eye in public places would protect children from bullying and put teachers on notice that they had better do their job. The video ends all "he said, she said" discussions.

School bullying is out of control. According to the National Institute of Child Health and Development, 16% of American students say they have been seriously bullied in school. That can destroy a kid's childhood if it's allowed to go on for any length of time. Just having a high-tech hall monitor that might discourage this kind of violence is enough to endorse the school camera idea.

Some conservatives don't like the camera idea. They say it doesn't solve the root problem of poor studet behavior. Here's a clue for the rightists: Nothing will solve the problem of bad behavior on the part of some kids. Unfortunately, by the time some arrive at school, they have been so damaged by their parents or environment in general that they are walking misdemeanors who inflict tremendous damage on other kids.

If cameras in halls and classrooms can pinpoint those troubled kids in a hurry, maybe the system can get them help.

Many teachers unions also oppose the cameras, and this is insane. Teachers need every bit of documentation on disruptive students. But the unions have always fought performance accountability, and that's what this opposition is all about, as the cameras would record how well teachers actually teach.

I wish I had some videotape of Sister Claudia's classroom. If I did, she'd probably be serving time in Sing Sing. But I would go visit her, because she taught me a lot. Still, somebody should pay for the earlobe thing.

[thefactor]

Public schools should have a right to put cameras in their halls. Although taxes fund the schools, our kids should not roam the halls with impunity as is the case in may schools due to the backlash if a teacher EVER laid a single finger on a student in order to educate/punish. Someone needs to be held accountable and we all know there are too many idiot parents who would not be caught actually teaching their kids right form wrong.

[annyokie]

Heck, we had armed Sheriffs on my high school campus, and this was 1973-1976. Cameras? Pfft!

[agitator]

NO!

This is just another one of O'Reilly's assholic ideas that fosters tolerance of universal surveillance.

[TrebleRebel]

I would have loved there to be cameras in the hallways when a 13-year-old pulled a knife on my mother, threatened her, denied it, and got off scott-free because none of the witnesses had the guts to come forward. Today, he's doing time in Huntsville, TX.

[TRY ONE]

And certain horny coaches/principals/janitors will put cameras in the girls locker rooms --- just to make sure they're all safe in there, of course!

[Sloth]

When I saw the title, I was all prepared to post that this is the kind of lame-brained statist idea that Bill O'Reilly would support.

Then I looked at who wrote it.

[JimVT]

The nuns used my right earlobe like a slot machine handle.

O'Reilly had it made.

Sister Mary Faustina, aka 'Frosty', used to get me outside the classroom with my back up against the big oak door.

She emphasized my errors with her right index finger...poking it into my chest at the end of each sentence.

This caused me to bounce back into the door with the door handle just about at my tailbone.

I she were a chattier woman I'd probably still walk with a stoop!

But God Bless 'em...I still know the state capitols and that an adverb can modify an adjective.

[gitmo]

I would prefer cameras in the classroom. Let's see WHY Johnny can't read.

I helped my son's 3rd grade class for their Christmas Winter Holiday party. 25% of the kids couldn't read words like "snow" or "party". 3 kids couldn't read their own names.

[Ed_in_NJ]

I grew up with "a cop on the streetcorner" just keeping an eye on things; I see this as being the same. The camera isn't interfering with anyone's right to move about and do what they're there at school to do.

Video surveillance is all over the place - and most people don't even notice it, most of the time. It is an effective, efficient and non-offensive 'crime' preventative.

[MD_Willington_1976]

My camera story..

The college I went to had cameras, inside and outside, the college was also connected to a high school, one day a bunch of punks were throwing crap in the back of college students cars and trucks. I ended up with a busted 19 in monitor in the back of my truck, so I went off to the Highschool office portion of the building and dropped the monitor on the floor in front of the Principals office..the secretary snapped at me "Excuse ME you cant leave that there", I told her that I didn't appreciate that fact that a bunch of pimple faced a$$hole$ were throwing $hit in the back of my truck and that I was going to take legal action against the school for any damages done to my vehicle..

The school disputed mine and other college students claims until a group of us college students went to the camera archive room with a police officer, the principal, & the secretary. We found the scene on the tape where the little savages were throwing crap at or in cars.

Needless to say TSHTF and the principal anounced that there was to be no more crap thrown at college students cars, the little bastards were to stay out of our parking lot and that the brain-dead punks were who started the mess were suspended...

[Atlas Sneezed]

We need streaming and archives of every word uttered by every public school teacher on the public dime.

[mtbopfuyn]

And to think just last month everyone was appalled at the school that had clips of the girls' locker room on the internet. No, the problem isn't about video's, it's about parents not raising their children properly. More teachers in the halls and restrooms would help too. Parents are failing their children and society. Boot out the wimpy administration and hire some that will stand up for what's right. Oh, and did I mention the parents need to take responsibility.

[Invasionofthebodysnatchers]

that's what I first though of when I read it....love the Pic:)

[Mr. Jeeves]

LOL! Love the picture!

[ventana]

Since the average mall has a camera observing your every move, cameras in schools should be a rather comfortable fit. I don't like cameras, I don't like public schools. But kids don't have rights in school anyway, at least they're entitled to a decent education and no bullying, this might ensure they get both. V's wife.

[freeeee]

That's right. Get em used to being watched all the time from a young age. Used to being searched on demand. Used to cameras everywhere watching everything they do. Used to having their lives spied and pried upon from cradle to grave. "Hey you! Pee in this cup. Papers please!!!"

Then a few years from now when they're all voters, a Stasi like East German surveillance police state hellhole will be all the easier to implement because it will be all they have ever known.

Free country, mr arse.

[microgood]

I can see it now. America's Funniest Pick-Your-Nose videos.

[Vigilantcitizen]

"School bullying is out of control. According to the National Institute of Child Health and Development, 16% of American students say they have been seriously bullied in school. That can destroy a kid's childhood if it's allowed to go on for any length of time. Just having a high-tech hall monitor that might discourage this kind of violence is enough to endorse the school camera idea."

No. This is exactly the way to continue on the path we are on, raising our boys to be like girls.

I was bullied, alot. Of course, having the name of Kermit, being a small fella, and a book worm while going to school in rural Georgia probably contributed. Point being, when I got tired of being bullied, and finally nutted up on the bully, it was part of growing up.

Kinda like taking that first jump off the high dive or taking that first shot with a rifle larger than a .22. Just with more satisfaction.

[Arkinsaw]

Sure, teach the kids that big brother is normal.

Censor their t-shirt because it has a picture of a fake gun on it (soldier's memorial statue), suspend them if they have an aspirin/midol or grandmas butterknife is in the bed of their truck, make them pee in a cup, make them wear clear backpacks so the school can get around the constitution, put a camera on them all day, search their lockers at will, wave a wand over them, suspend them for exercising free speech on the internet, prohibit them from giving a valedictorian's speech because they want to say "God" in it, make a policy that they cannot SPEAK at lunch, send them to psychologists for scribbling a picture of a tank or soldier on their notebook, suspend them for having a picture of a B-52 bomber on their locker.

Then send them to civics class to learn about the Bill of Rights and how wonderful it is to live in a free country and wonder why they are cynical, disrespectful of authority, and think adults are hypocrites.