The idea of cameras in classrooms picked up steam during the Covid era, when teachers held virtual classes. Parents would often peek in at what the children were being taught. They realized that, in too many instances, teachers were delivering propaganda or social justice lessons rather than “reading, writing and arithmetic.”
In many school districts, teachers have gone off the rails in believing that today’s children are not radicalized enough. The kids should be out protesting, resisting. So what if an 8th grader reads at a 3rd grade level? There is injustice in the world. The teachers and administrators never recognize the fact that they’re actually the ones responsible for that injustice by not teaching school subjects.
On the No Agenda Podcast, I often joke that the American school system, from the beginning to the end, has one goal: to create more Democrat voters. This happens with selective teaching, where specific facts are taught at the expense of other facts that may or may not balance understanding. The best recent example of this is the uncritical adoption of the anti-American Howard Zinn texts by schools across the country.
But there are plenty of other concerns, many of which began with the introduction of the oddball Common Core Curriculum. It faced backlash after parents discovered that their kids were learning nonsense mechanisms to do simple math.
The introduction of Critical Race Theory came next. This was a race-centric version of the 1970s Critical Theory developed by a group of European Marxists.
In fact, it wasn’t taught per se in most classrooms but the hip teachers were all indoctrinated in the philosophies. They passed the ideas on to the naïve students, thinking it was a good thing. You know, give them a head start so they could become good little socialists and vote for Democrats.
This is still in play, though some educators are now headed in the direction of SEL -- Social and Emotional Learning.
Instead of teaching a 4th grader the mathematical times tables, you teach them how to “feel.” The promotes sensitivity and empathy as a classroom focus. It's reminiscent of the self-esteem fad.
SEL ups the ante and makes the curriculum incorporate left-wing concepts of equity, collectivism, and social justice -- all under the guise of fairness.
CASEL, the leading organization pushing this “coursework,” has proposed an even more aggressive version of SEL called “Transformative SEL.”
Who knows what other learning mechanisms or courses of study are out there? Does this hinder student's ability to think for themselves let alone do math well.
This is exactly why cameras in the classroom are important. Why anyone would object to it is baffling.
But there are plenty of other reasons the monitoring fits in with the modern era. Is it your child who is disruptive? Are you in denial about your child being anything but an angel? See for yourself. And the most horrible children might aspire to a higher standard if they knew that their parents might be watching.
This aspect of cameras is important because it protects teachers who might otherwise show reluctance to cameras in the classroom. It protects them, too. This is the same argument the left uses when it insists that police wear cameras. It protects the police and the public. Cameras in classrooms would protect the teachers and the children.
The real roadblock is implementation. Teachers streamed their classes during lockdown and it seemed to work fine. And while many kids have camera-phones capable of streaming, you can be sure that it will “cost too much” or be “impossible to install,” etc, etc.
Well, it must happen, sooner rather than later. The good schools that are actually interested in educating the children will and should find a way. — JCD