Mar 07 2008
Cellphone cameras in the classroom - baiting teachers for YouTube
Bad teaching, bad parenting… or an example of mob mentality at it’s finest? DangerouslyIrrelevant has posted 7 YouTube videos, all taken by student cell phone cameras in classroom.
Public response to the post and videos include comments like “shocked by the disrespect,” “punks who do not want to learn,” “makes me want to beat these kids asses,” “it’s the parents’ fault,” “it’s the teacher’s fault” and “it’s the kids fault”
In response, one young teacher says; “I am only 26 - I am a young teacher with tons of energy and amazing ideas for fantastic and engaging lessons. I can’t conduct them when one kid is telling me to fuck off everyday and his five followers won’t stop throwing things, making noises, talking incessantly, bullying other students, never completing work, etc...”
IMHO, our kids have a problem. And I’m not talking about the obvious attitude problem.
We have a school system that promises no child left behind. Translation; marks don’t matter and repercussions don’t exist.
The kids IN that school system have grown up using the Internet unsupervised because they know more about computers and the Internet than their parents do.
So they get online at Facebook and via IM. They make plans that they’ll have little or no repercussion for. They goad teachers and bully other students and post it on YouTube. Mob mentality at it’s finest.
It’s like a sick and twisted Internet version of Lord of the Flies. Children governing themselves with disastrous results.
I don’t think it’s the teacher’s problem. And while it *may* be lack of parenting in some cases, I doubt that’s the case most of the time. Most often, I think it’s mob mentality.
The solution could be so simple. First infraction - expelled for 3 days. Second infraction - expelled for longer. Third infraction - expelled permanently.
The kid will have to shape up or run out of schools. And that’s okay, too. Society will always need people to clean toliets and wash floors.
It’s called cause and effect… something these kids obviously didn’t learn at Facebook.
Here’s the first video… watch it and tell me what YOU think. If you want to, you can watch the rest, here;
Popularity: 9% [?]
It is mob mentality… from the same kids who swear they do what they do to “be unique” like how they all get their lips pierced to show their “individuality.”
It is also a combination of many things, some of which is indeed, bad parenting.
Here’s the thing. When my 11 year old got into a bit of trouble with some other kids same age, he was disciplined the most severely. One of the things he was made to take responsibility for (by us) was the fact that the time the staff had to take to deal with the troublemakers, was time that was effectively, stolen from the other kids. I explained to him that it was not his right to take education time away from someone else who might want it, that he was stealing from others by disrupting things and taking that time away from teaching to handle discipline.
If every parent had that attitude and their kids knew it… kids would not be so willing to do things they shouldn’t do. When school administrators tell us that when they try discipline students, their parents come in making threats to the staff and saying things like “who do they think they are disciplining their kid” then really… is it any surprise that the kids in this video have no concept of listenting to anyone?
Cellphones, Ipods, etc absolutley do not belong in class.
I’ve not embellished one word here. The difference in how our kids are acting is markedly different even in the last 4-5 years. My oldest (21) does not have the same kinds of stories from his high school years as does my middle (17) year old have.
As social networking sites expand and increase, teen behaviour is markedly different. I’ve followed my kids online for these years, and I can swear to that. Parents who don’t know what’s going on online and how it spills over into offline life, are just as you liken to the Lord of the Flies… losing their children to a world where they govern themselves to disastrous results.
I couldn’t have said it better.
What bothers me most is to see how many people are looking around for who to blame instead of how to solve the problem.
Blamers are lamers.
Firstly, it doesn’t matter whose fault it is.
Secondly, problems are almost never solved with the same level of thinking that caused the problem in the first place.
Accountability is the solution. A six year old knows right from wrong. These kids know they’re being buttheads.
Teachers could have cameras in class, too. When kids start acting that way, the teacher can turn on the camera, sit down and start writing down names.
You know… of who gets expelled for a day, who gets expelled for a week and who gets expelled permanently.
Parents who complain should have to watch the tapes to see how their little darlings behave.
Agreed! Blame only helps to figure out where to start. Blame for the sake of blame results in nothing.
I still vehemently oppose phones and ipods, etc. in class. Phones are commonly used in class for wrong-doing, be it cheating on exams, taking photos that shouldn’t be allowed (is there nowhere left where we won’t have to worry about being photographed and then humiliated for the photographs?) or even bullying other kids via text messaging right in class.
All three of those things have happened… to my knowledge… at elementary schools where I live. Not just high schools… elementary (grade) schools.
“Parents who complain should have to watch the tapes to see how their little darlings behave.”
Part of the trouble, is that even when shown, often the parents are upset with the teachers for bringing it to their attention. I know of several cases where 12 and 13 year olds were using their webpages (not going to name the site where they were so as not to prompt any sign-ups from anyone who might stumble across this) to bully other girls… posting personal information that involved the school’s name and such… as well as displaying sexually charged material beyond their years. The parents were called in and informed and instead of being grateful that the school had helped them see what their kids were doing online and how they were bringing it to school and disrupting school with it, the parents were upset with the staff member.
Sometimes parents want to remain ignorant so they don’t have to deal with things, and showing them results in a “shoot the messenger” type situation.
I’ve been “lucky” enough to have been on that end when I’ve tried to show other parents what their kids are up to, so I tend to be on the side of making clear cut rules for behaviour violations, fire up the classroom cameras and let the chips fall where they fall… parents be damned.
Sometimes, my own generation embarasses me.
Sometimes my generation embarasses me, too.
Sometimes people of my gender do.
Other times, the human race does.
I hear you on the parents… I’d suggest that the teacher smile ever so sweetly and tell the dear frankenparents that they’re going to see a little movie clip and their response will show us whether their darling child learned their attitude at home or from their friends.
Kind of reminds me of the time, after booting the ex out, when the Mom of one of DD’s friends said to me “oh dear! do you think he would forgive you and come back?”
I laughed heartily and then and told her now I have a much better understanding of why her daughter acts the way she does. Apples seldom fall too far from the tree.
Such a pity that growing up chronologically is a given, but growing up mentally is not.
P.S. Regarding the “apples seldom fall too far from the tree” thing … most teens act out or have some issues that go hand in hand with being a teen. my own DD had her share. Thing is, kids with good parents do, usually and inevitably, end up doing the right thing.
Kids with good parents don’t end up growing into the parents that hide from their own kids behaviour…. if THAT made any sense. LOL
All of it. Crystal clear.
Kids will do “stuff” that will make their parents cringe… but when they’re really out of hand, there is always a reason for it. Sometimes parents recognize it and get them whatever help they need, and sometimes parents hope it will “go away” if they ignore it (and their responsibilities) long enough. It usually doesn’t just “go away” and sometimes, tragedy happens while they’re waiting for the miracle.
It makes me wonder why those kids in the videos are so out of line. What’s wrong in their life? Why is no one noticing and doing something about it… getting them whatever help it is they need?
Sad.