I'm SHOCKED: My child says "Big Brother" to be monitoring her classroom via webcam,,,, page 6

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reply posted on 16-9-2010 @ 08:18 PM by NightGypsy

reply to post by ElijahWan

The little girl then points at the screen behind the young actress and you see an entire classroom of Chinese students all yelling "NEEE-HOW!" (sp? don't know chinese lol) And all the kids in the American classroom stand up in wave.... In a sense it's like a "technological penpal", which is something that I think is GREAT since back when I went to grade school we were still writing on paper and it was being snail-mailed to our penpals. (And that was only like jeez....10 or so years ago)

Trust me, ElijaWan, I have no problem with the scenario above and hope that this does wind up being one of the things the monitor is used for. However, up to this point, there's been no mention of such a thing, only talk of classroom monitoring, relaying of urgent messages to teachers, and offering teachers training sessions...and the denial of a webcam.

The nefarious activities that my government seems to enjoy engaging in more frequently than ever these days does not allow me to let this one go based on the assumption this equipment is going to bring my daughter closer to our foreign neighbors from the comforts of the classroom

reply posted on 16-9-2010 @ 08:36 PM by LadySkadi

reply to post by NightGypsy

For what it's worth, I hope that is what the intentions are as well and as someone who works in the Education field, that is my suspicion, though I would not put it past Administration to use technology to monitor the teachers in the classroom (if that is the intent) which I lean more strongly towards, than anything to do with monitoring the students.

edit on 16-9-2010 by LadySkadi because: (no reason given)

reply posted on 16-9-2010 @ 09:33 PM by xynephadyn

Here is what I recommend. I totally understand your reaction- I would have gone postal myself!!!

---Make flyers and hand out to parents in the parking lots. If you are 100 percent personally sure that the children are being monitored- all it takes is a mob of angry parents to get to the bottom of this.

---Go to your PTA meeting and bring this up. Have pictures, documents, interview your childs teacher etc before going in with this info as they will want proof.

If that doesent work..
---Contact your local TV news stations and talk to somebody there about what is going on. What you discovered, what your child said, what the teacher said etc. While most news corps are run by the illuminati, i constantly see things on my local tv news stations about things like this- while not this exact situation, I definatly see a story here. Getting the news involved will help bring public attention to this.

reply posted on 17-9-2010 @ 12:34 AM by k0mbination

reply to post by Blanca Rose

Have a look at this link for example Bianca
/gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2010/03/on-limits-of-surveillance-cameras-for.html

this is just one of many many studies done that have come up with the same story time and time again, cameras simply don't work.
Have a look at the UK for example, one of the most cameras intrusive country's in the world, there the have found reduction in most street crime is negligible. Cameras for the most part give a false since of security or the criminals simply find better ways to avoid them.
Now to relate this to school kids, I'll take a guess and say you have a kid(s) at school who maybe have been bullied? This wont stop it, kids are dam smart especially when it comes to avoiding authority (remember your own childhood) all this will do will make them sneakier.
And do you really want your kids growing up in a nanny state, forgetting how to think for themselves because Big Brother is there to take care of everything? This will simply lead them to becoming incapable of making serious decisions for themselves. Sooner or later the big bad world is going to become a reality and having them used to not making decision's is not going to benefit them at all.
I agree with you that bullying is bad and a growing problem but camera's are a band-aide solution at best, and a revolting abuse of your child's rights at worst. How can you be sure of who is watching them?
Children need love and support, they also need the chance to grow and make decision's for themselves, otherwise they become a shadow of what they could become.

reply posted on 17-9-2010 @ 01:48 AM by mnmcandiez

I think the teacher was just bullshattin your kids. I remember when I was in middle school one of our teachers used to say there was a camera in the classroom and point to it. So I went up and looked where there was supposedly a camera, and there wasn't one. It was nothing but a fear tatic to get kids to behave. Also the school was very ghetto and couldn't afford paper let alone cameras.

Usually TVs and computers are given to schools by grants.

reply posted on 17-9-2010 @ 02:00 AM by rusethorcain

reply to post by NightGypsy

Maybe they are monitoring the teachers and the curriculum?
Making sure none of that new-fangled, "evo-lu-tion" is taught in the school.

reply posted on 17-9-2010 @ 02:09 AM by 2weird2live2rare2die

reply to post by American_Soviets

i agree, when i graduated five years ago my school already had cameras in every hallway and rooms such as gymnasiums and cafeterias, even in certain classrooms. we were routinely called out for "fire drills" where drug dogs would be lead through the classrooms and around the lockers, then outside around the waiting students. i don't know how most of you would react, but a snarling hundred pound german shepherd scared the crap out of me. even with all of these precautions the school was full of drugs, they were everywhere and a whole lot easier to get than an education. kids will get around all of this crap easily, these cameras have blind spots and anyone who isn't a complete moron could find a good place to stash whatever drugs they are selling. think the library, the bathroom, whatever. all of these cameras are basically a waste of money, if a school employee sees two kids fighting on a computer in some office, how is he going to stop it? by the time he radios for a teacher to intervene it's going to be over. before he "radios for backup" the kids selling crack to each other are going to disappear into a crowd of students. cameras are useless in schools, yeah they can catch and punish these kids after the fact but the damage is done. ooh detention like half of these kids care about that, half of them have been to juvenile hall and the other half probably have a messed up family life they have to deal with every day, maybe a drug addicted or drunken parent, do you think sitting them in a room for thirty minutes of quiet time is really going to bother them?

edit on 17-9-2010 by 2weird2live2rare2die because: stupidity

reply posted on 17-9-2010 @ 07:07 AM by wayno

The scariest part of this story, but not surprising really, is how it was determined by whoever, that the Cisco equipment was an essential installation, but that ensuring that the principle and teachers understood it, was not.

Sounds to me like the principle just capitulated to the PTB and allowed a potentially intrusive setup into her school. It is crazy that she could not give you and all parents, and the students, a thorough and concise understanding of what it was for and how it was to be used. Perhaps she was playing ignorant, as a good stuge of the PTB should, but my guess is she just didn't have the hutzpa to challenge her superiors.

She is in a top down authority system afterall. You should, if you haven't already, check directly with your daughter's teacher and see if he doesn't have a clearer answer for you. Definitely keep plugging away until you have the real story, but keep your paranoia in check until you know for sure the potential for missuse.

reply posted on 17-9-2010 @ 07:20 AM by Benevolent Heretic

Originally posted by NightGypsy
Webcams are present on the monitors after the principal told me there were none..

Did you see this? Or are you taking someone's word for it?

And if the principal isn't technically inclined, you can't take their word for anything regarding this equipment. Even their confusion or changing the subject can be understood if they don't know much about it. Granted, as the principal, they should know exactly what the screens are for... but apparently, this person doesn't, for whatever reason. That's something I would bring up.

A "Monitor" can be one who monitors, OR it can mean a CRT, as on your computer. In the latter case, there is no "monitoring" going on. A webcam is necessary for surveillance.

I agree with the member who said to attend a PTA meeting. Bring it up. But I would suggest you back down from your somewhat suspicious position. You'll find out a lot more about it that way. Go about it as something that you're curious about. People will be much more likely to hear you and answer your questions completely if you don't put them on the defensive.

Why not purchase a couple of the monitors and place them somewhere where they can be used by all the teachers? Why do these "urgent messages " need to be played over a monitor as opposed to an intercom?

If this is just ONE of the uses, it makes perfect sense. If they are in every classroom to communicate with the school district at large, then teachers can choose to watch videos of subjects that interest them or in areas where they may need specific help.

Be CURIOUS, but hold off on your suspicions until you know more. That's my unsolicited advice.

Originally posted by ofhumandescent
Every human being has a right to human privacy.

NOT in a public classroom. I'm sorry, but it's a public place. They have no right not to be observed. They ARE being observed by the teachers and by other students. If these cameras were in the bathrooms or in the child's home, then your concern would be valid.

edit on 9/17/2010 by Benevolent Heretic because: (no reason given)

reply posted on 18-9-2010 @ 05:47 PM by wayno

Well, I guess it turned out to be nothing after all.
It would have been nice to hear some sort of confirmation from the OP, now that she got everyone all upset.

reply posted on 19-9-2010 @ 08:16 AM by prepared4truth

reply to post by wayno

She did actually confirm a few pages back. She might not have had the time to follow up with all these other questions/concerns though. It's only been a few days...

reply posted on 20-10-2010 @ 12:07 PM by thegoodearth

So Night Gypsy, how did this situation play out? I read through the posts and am thinking that after a month, you will have found out all the particulars at this point.

Did you bring it to a PTA meeting like someone suggested?

Have they begun to use the monitors? How about the webcams? I know you said that you had seen the webcams with your own eyes. Did you go to the school and check out the situation? Curious to see an update.

edit on 20-10-2010 by thegoodearth because: (no reason given)

reply posted on 20-10-2010 @ 12:22 PM by nixie_nox

OK, I have two opinions about this.

First, school is a public place, then anyone who wants to monitor it from the school district has a right too.

BUT

that being said. Parents also have a right that if their children are being watched, you have a right to know by whom, what the information is being used for. You wouldn't want a webcam showing up on youtube of your child.
So I don't blame you for being upset.

As far as fund distribution goes, people don't realize how government funds are alloted. They are given by different people, programs and agencies for various reasons. So the school district may not have money, but that doesn't mean a federal program has allocated a certain amount of funds for just this very thing. That is why it can look skewed in government agencies, but you can use funds allocated for what they were allocated for, no matter what the needs are somewhere else.

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