Kate Solomon

I’m so impressed by the kids at Davenant Foundation School in Loughton, Essex, who went on strike after the school installed CCTV cameras in two classrooms.

Although apparently installed to record footage of best practice teaching, I for one wouldn’t do my best learning under the beady, suspicious eye of these bug-like cameras.

As a society, we’re obsessed with surveillance. There’s an “if you’ve got nothing to hide, then you’ve got nothing to fear” mentality which the government spouts at us to justify the millions of CCTV cameras around the UK which watch our every move. Somewhere along the way we’ve come to accept that we’re under constant supervision and it has become the norm.

And yeah, when we’re attacked in the street or our cars are broken into, then we’re glad of the evidence provided by this unsolicited footage. But taping students in the classroom is a step too far. Getting up to harmless mischief at school is part of growing up and, as with all the most enjoyable bits of growing up, it’s not exactly something that grownups condone. You can bet that teachers wouldn’t hesitate to use footage against students should any skulduggery occur, making the cameras a constant, intimidating threat of prosecution for even the smallest of pranks.

And even if students are not getting up to no good, there is no reason why they should be expected to sit back and accept a complete lack of privacy. Who can honestly say they never felt vulnerable or nervous getting up to speak in front of their whole class? Who never felt even the slightest bit stupid when it took them longer to grasp a new concept than the rest of their peers? And who really wants to know that the moment of intense disappointment at receiving a poor mark was captured on film to be watched by people you don’t even know, with the possibility of it ending up who knows where?

Getting through school is hard enough without knowing that faceless trainee teachers or equipment supervisors are watching you go through it again and again. Good on these students for taking a stand for their civil liberties.

You can read more about the protest here.

via BoingBoing

Image credit: East London and West Essex Guardian