For example, the evidence in GP’s post is that the child wishes an adult could see what happens when the teacher leaves the room. This sounds like a kid telling their parent about a problem at school, not a kid idly musing about surveillance.
I think the kids haven’t changed, it’s parents and admin. Setting aside whether we think teachers should be able to leave, the fact of the matter is that it’s a massive liability.
The teacher is responsible for the care of the children under their charge. Probably you would be understanding, but all it takes is one terrible moment, and one parent screaming to the superintendent that the teacher negligently left little Timmy unsupervised to cause a huge problem for the teacher and school admin.
Anyway, it’s very easy to get someone to cover your class for five minutes while you make copies or take a leak.
This attitude is so weird to me and entirely different from when I was in school. Students were treated as miniature adults, not some kind of hospital patient. If the teacher needed to run a quick errand, make copies, etc. it wasn’t a big deal.
Female teachers have complained about UTIs and bladder infections from having to hold it for long periods of time. Students can ask for a hall pass, but adults aren't extended that opportunity.
Given that when teachers leave the room, students start parkouring off of furniture or gang-raping each other (and uploading it to social media), that's unlikely to change anytime soon.
I didn't intend to minimize the child's concern from GGP's post, I remember all the terrible things that children are capable of. but I remember those things happening in the hallways, bathrooms, and locker rooms more than in the actual classroom. never leaving the room during class seems kinda arbitrary when there are so many opportunities for the students to harm each other.
a better way of asking my question might have been: is there something special about never leaving the classroom specifically, or has the expectation evolved to "students will absolutely never be unsupervised during school hours"? given that teachers also need time to physically move between their office, the cafeteria, bathroom, and classroom, this seems hard to achieve.
> all it takes is one terrible moment, and one parent screaming to the superintendent that the teacher negligently left little Timmy unsupervised to cause a huge problem for the teacher and school admin.
And that is a big part of the problem. In the saner times, decades ago, the superintendent would tell such parent to GTFO, and that would be the end of it. It worked out well, because adults were more cooperative; now, the parent-school relationship seems fully antagonistic. These days, a single crazy or malicious parent can terrorize the entire school - and a big reason for cameras and student surveillance is thus to give the school some means to defend itself and the other kids.
I think the kids haven’t changed, it’s parents and admin. Setting aside whether we think teachers should be able to leave, the fact of the matter is that it’s a massive liability.
The teacher is responsible for the care of the children under their charge. Probably you would be understanding, but all it takes is one terrible moment, and one parent screaming to the superintendent that the teacher negligently left little Timmy unsupervised to cause a huge problem for the teacher and school admin.
Anyway, it’s very easy to get someone to cover your class for five minutes while you make copies or take a leak.