Wyoming lawmakers have proposed installing video cameras in public schools and taping classes to help evaluate teacher performance, but some educators say the Big Brother-esque practice would violate the privacy of teachers and students alike. Other opponents say principals could more effectively monitor teachers by making unannounced visits to classrooms. Will videotaping teachers improve their skills, or merely unnerve them?
What a gross invasion of privacy: In "our surveillance society," this proposal doesn't exactly come as a shock, says James M. Burton at Informed on Information, but that doesn't excuse it. "How long until those cameras are used to harass staff" or kids, as happened not long ago when a Pennsylvania school district put webcams in students' laptops, then snapped pictures of them at home. This is an Orwellian nightmare in the making.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.