Under a Watchful Eye: Concern or Control?
How different Would the Residential School Experience have been if it had been recorded?
Hearing about the extent of the abuse that occurred in Residential Schools I often wonder how different would it have been if there was someone else there to witness it. Even still, if it was recorded.
Yes, that technology did not exist but that is not the point here. The point is, how differently would those teachers have behaved if an outside agency was observing them. How differently would they behave now?
This very question applies to today and with the proliferation of fist hand videos of teacher and student misconduct on youtube it begs the question: should cameras be put into classrooms?
I ask this because I would like to know if having cameras in the classroom would make FMNI students and Residential School Survivors more comfortable in non-reserve schools. There are many assumptions I’m working with here and this is just one of my first steps that I’m taking.
I would be grateful if you could take some time to respond to the following survey. It is centered around if cameras should be allowed in classrooms.
https://goo.gl/forms/HYFPvChJyQOc6SYe2
Bart's PME Blog 
Hi Bart,
I totally see your point here and look forward to seeing the results of the survey.
My thought is…what if the behaviours were considered a norm at a time where different was not acceptable? If you look at pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial societies, expeditions were undertaken to discover the new world. In addition to this the mentality was, we’re better so conform to our way of thinking, because your ways are considered ‘savage’.
Camera’s would help in facilitating discussions and a start to pinpointing issues, but I feel there is a lot more that needs to be done to change a ‘mentality’. Especially with the older you get people tend to become more ‘set in their ways’. As educators, what would be more preventative measures? Or would there be more preventative measures when teachers train for the profession?
YH
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