Should Surveillance Cameras be placed in Classrooms? Discuss.

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Essay: Should Surveillance Cameras be placed in Classrooms? Discuss.

        Should surveillance cameras be placed in classrooms? My opinion is that surveillance cameras should be placed in classrooms in schools throughout the UK, but only under certain circumstances. If cameras were placed in classrooms, pupils, as well as teachers, could be surveyed throughout the school day. While some people are totally against this idea, others think it is a very helpful way to sort out some school and pupil problems. However, many people are also uncertain. Teachers and pupils also have different views on this issue. My personal view is that there are advantages, as well as disadvantages in placing cameras in classrooms.

        The question ‘Should surveillance cameras be placed in classrooms?’ is debatable. Although I personally think cameras are a good idea, there are many people who are uncertain about the issue, as well as others who are against it. Both those two groups of people have their own different views and opinions on the subject matter. There are advantages as well as disadvantages in having surveillance cameras in classrooms.

        The most obvious advantage in having surveillance cameras in classrooms is that all actions undertaken by both pupils and teachers can be monitored and recorded. This means that pupils who misbehave or are displaying unacceptable behaviour, can be caught and punished. Surveillance cameras can record whether teachers are teaching their students properly and also whether they are doing what they should be doing. In addition to visual images (being recorded) sound can also be ‘captured’. Therefore, pupils speaking obscene language, for example, can be overheard and caught. Another example would be that conversations between pupils regarding vandalism, bullying, and other forms of mischievous behaviour can be ‘snooped’ upon. Cameras live footage recordings would show members of the school staff what exactly occurred in a particular area of the school, and when it happened. Cameras recordings provide evidence for teachers to show others who carried out. An example of this would be when, let’s say a pupil was disruptive in several lessons, and was recorded via cameras. The headmaster, for example, found out that particular pupil was disruptive many times during the school day(s), and he therefore decided to punish him/her. Now, if the parents of the pupil are very defensive about their son/daughter, and decide to protect them, (as they do not believe their child would so such a thing or they believe their child’s false untrue story) for example, then the cameras recordings would provide here enough evidence to persuade the parents that their son/daughter was in the wrong. Something closely linked to this, would be that cameras recording could show, on parent’s evening for example, whether their children are really working as hard as they say they are, or whether they are doing something else. A final advantage is that truancy could be found out about. Cameras would record whole classrooms, and would show which pupils are present and absent. If pupils were present in one lesson and absent in another, they could be traced and questioned by teachers.

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        There are however disadvantages in having cameras placed in classrooms too. The main disadvantage here is that privacy of pupils’ conversations can perhaps be ‘invaded’ upon by teachers, for example. This would be so as cameras could be a mere excuse for school staff to simply just be nosy as listen in on student’s conversations with others. Unfortunately there is no way that this can be prevented, as the main reason for sound recording is to catch misbehaving pupils. The majority of pupils would hate it if their personal thoughts, opinions and conversations were being heard by people they ...

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