Guns at home and virtual classes (teacher, high school, grade, math)
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Look at each for two seconds then answer. I'm saying two seconds because that's the time flash you'd likely see on a monitor, that's not taking into account poor video quality and distortion.
I got 5 of 7 but studied them for at least 15 seconds each.
Seconded. I certainly wouldn't sweat it if there was a firearm in a private residence, so long as I didn't think that the student was actively in any danger from it.
Not requiring the kids to have the camera on cures most of this.
No camera =
+ no little brother/sister running through nekkid in the background.
+ no problem if student is still in pajamas.
+ nothing weird going on with pets.
+ no cross-culture issues on other students homes.
Lot more benefit to no cameras on the kids.
At close out of class -- last 1/2 hour or 15 minutes -- the kids that want to stick around and chat and visit turn their cameras on (or not), and we do the friendly stuff.
I do not tell the kids whether they should or not have their camera on -- I wrote the syllabus as "cameras optional, student choice." Most leave them off. My observation is that some of the high achievers and more friendly types turn theirs on for the entire class. Either way, all is fine, and no Teacher being a Karen is required.
Here's a good solution: put up an opaque adult-height room divider behind the remote learning desk. Set it up behind the chair, surrounding it on three sides. Maybe stick some "woke" posters on it. Angle the laptop camera so it doesn't see above the divider. This way, all the teacher will see is the divider, the "woke" posters, and maybe the ceiling light. Not the big bad guns, not the inappropriately-dressed younger sibling, not the "offensive" decor on the walls, nothing. Possession is 9/10th of the law, after all. And with the divider blocking the proof of possession, the teacher has no ground to stand on.
Here's a good solution: put up an opaque adult-height room divider behind the remote learning desk. Set it up behind the chair, surrounding it on three sides. Maybe stick some "woke" posters on it. Angle the laptop camera so it doesn't see above the divider. This way, all the teacher will see is the divider, the "woke" posters, and maybe the ceiling light. Not the big bad guns, not the inappropriately-dressed younger sibling, not the "offensive" decor on the walls, nothing. Possession is 9/10th of the law, after all. And with the divider blocking the proof of possession, the teacher has no ground to stand on.
Yes and no. The only thing a teacher should be seeing on Zoom is the student from the shoulders up. (Like a bust statue.) While your idea hides the gun itself, you never know what else the teacher might see and therefore retaliate against the student for. Like a hunting poster, a "Back the Blue" flag, an NRA magazine, etc. You can never be too safe.
My colleague, who's from Russia (USSR when he went to school there) told me a horror story. His teacher used to make unannounced visits to his home, to make sure he "lives his life like a student should" (read: in compliance with USSR's ideology). His parents never turned her away, fearing social shaming for doing so (read: having something to hide). She stopped short of doing an actual search. But if she saw something she didn't like, like bubble gum wrappers (she believed bubble gum is poison) or American video tapes (no need to explain), she could lower his grade for "student conduct" for the week, if not the whole quarter. Interestingly, he owned realistic toy guns and even a real cap gun, and she couldn't care less about those. Now, he jokes with me that he was more scared of his teacher than he was of the KGB.
He wasn't the only one. Teachers making unannounced home visits was fairly common around the USSR. Maybe not so much in major cites like Moscow (where the Western influence quietly leaked in), but definitely in smaller towns like where he lived. Oftentimes, teachers looked for things that went against their own personal beliefs, not just against the country's and/or the school's ideology, and penalized students for them.
Scarily, we're become a carbon copy of our former Cold War enemy, with Zoom being a counterpart of the telescreen from "1984". Pretty much the only difference is that we don't use a Cyrillic alphabet.
Last edited by MillennialUrbanist; 02-12-2021 at 08:20 PM..
Hey!!!!!
My granddaughter (now in college at Tulsa University) attended school here in Texas from kindergarten and my grandson is now in 10th grade in Texas. LOL
Scarily, we're become a carbon copy of our former Cold War enemy, with Zoom being a counterpart of the telescreen from "1984". Pretty much the only difference is that we don't use a Cyrillic alphabet.
You are crazy if you think that we are becoming a carbon copy of the Soviet Union. Have you actually had any real involvement with a school here in the US?
Can't you use a background photo to keep the busybodies at bay? You could even have fun with it. For example, use one that makes the teacher think the kid is in a bar or use one with bars that makes the teacher think the kid is in a cage or one that makes the teacher think the kid is in the bathroom or one with the parents in the background that makes the teacher think the parents are watching them teach. Or, have a contest for the kids to come up with the best/funniest background photo.
You are crazy if you think that we are becoming a carbon copy of the Soviet Union. Have you actually had any real involvement with a school here in the US?
I call them as I see them. From what I see on the news about schools and teachers' actions, my statement is mostly correct.
I don't think I'd be allowed to work for a school in any capacity. Both due to my political beliefs (rightist) and my total lack of personal connections to important people in the school system.
Quote:
Originally Posted by LauraC
Can't you use a background photo to keep the busybodies at bay? You could even have fun with it. For example, use one that makes the teacher think the kid is in a bar or use one with bars that makes the teacher think the kid is in a cage or one that makes the teacher think the kid is in the bathroom or one with the parents in the background that makes the teacher think the parents are watching them teach. Or, have a contest for the kids to come up with the best/funniest background photo.
I have a better idea: How about the funniest Zoom filter? Like, have each student put on a filter of their favorite animal, particularly during a science class about mammals. Like that "I am not a cat!" lawyer. I think Zoom filter with animals and what-have-you also put up a plain white background.
Last edited by MillennialUrbanist; 02-14-2021 at 08:49 AM..
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Now, he jokes with me that he was more scared of his teacher than he was of the KGB.
Pretty much the only difference is that we don't use a Cyrillic alphabet.
