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Comment by matte_black | Hacker News Reader

Don't be so hyperbolic. Try to focus on all the good things this kind of technology can do. Kids skipping class, kids beating up other kids, even someone walking in with a weapon: these kinds of things can be detected and handled more efficiently and promptly with a system like this at scale.

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Being able to ever more efficiently and effectively prove just how bad things are so punishment can be doled out after the fact isn't some means to foster a trusting, trustworthy and civilized environment.

Trust, but always verify.

Policies along the lines of The beatings shall continue until morale improves have a very long track record of failure.

I know many of you in HN live in perfect idealistic communities, but let me tell you: I went to a shitty school with police coming by everyday and a poor graduation rate. I got the shit beaten out of me more times than I care to remember, for things like "not helping some kid cheat on a test". Nobody cared, and there was no way to prove it anyway. If I said anything it only meant I would get beat up outside of school.

I felt unsafe every damn day in high school, and it certainly wasn't because some facial recognition tech was watching my every move.

But whatever, keep trusting those kids to eventually behave. Personally, I just hope karma got them in the end.

I'm extremely sorry for your experience. Your assumption about my life is inaccurate.

I was homeless for nearly six years. I got off the street last September.

I currently live in a dirt cheap SRO. I have lived in high crime neighborhoods and was last in Fresno while homeless (where murder and arson were routinely in the news).

"Eyes on the street" is how you prevent such things. Human monitors who can serve as witnesses are a deterrent to crime in a way that cameras are not. Furthermore, adult supervision and the right policies can help troubled kids learn how more pro social behavior.

I'm talking about prevention, not sweeping it under the rug and ignoring it.

> Don't be so hyperbolic. Try to focus on all the good things this kind of technology can do.

Agree! Could you imagine having millions or billions of records of students learning the same set of concepts? Big data pedagogy, here we come!

> Kids skipping class, kids beating up other kids, even someone walking in with a weapon

Oh... Disagree :-(

Schools are places of learning, not prisons. Technology in schools should enable learning, not surveillance.

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