America and Britain may be losing their rights, but at least other countries aren't. Right? Right?..

NoGuessing

Buzz
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http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/5344333/Wainuiomata-High-School-set-on-toilet-cameras

The scariest thing is it was met with this reaction;

The request came from pupils and parents, he said.

He had had no parent feedback yet but when the suggestion was announced at a senior assembly, it was met with applause.

Wtf?

But that's not all...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-pos...04/Teachers-get-greater-power-with-new-guides

Teachers and principals have the right to search through students' personal diaries, cellphones or laptops under new guidelines issued by the Education Ministry.

The guidelines, released today by Education Minister Anne Tolley, say searches and confiscations affect student rights and their privacy and should only be carried out if a student has, or is believed to have, an item that poses an immediate or direct threat to safety.

I don't know about you guys, but when I was at school I always hid my gun in my diary, and my knife in my cellphone.
 

Don

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Yeah, that's the way to teach kids responsibility. :rolleyes:
 

muravyets

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Toilet cameras.

...

What I really can't stand the most about the global epidemic of authoritarianism is that this time around, it's So. Damned. Stupid.

I'm just going to sit back and wait for the international task force investigating the rise of illegal bathroom cam porn from New Zealand.

Idiots.
 

NoGuessing

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If I see a single toilet camera at uni (which I doubt, because the student union would riot and this time I'd be with them), I'm breaking it.

Makes me glad I've finished school. You have no voice at that age, and this is proving it.
 

NoGuessing

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Actually, considering the stereotype of under 25s in NZ is we're all drunken, couch burning louts filming amatuer pornography on our cellphones, I can see the toilet cameras backfiring...:D

What better way to save on film? The recession makes it pricey these days.
 

Shadow Dragon

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Wow. That really isn't necessary. A camera outside the door and the occasional check by a staff member should be enough. There really shouldn't be cameras in the bathroom.

And searching through personal objects will not reveal anything the student doesn't want to be revealed. Since they know that they could be checked at any time, they'll simply hide things better. Or put false information in their diary/phone/laptop/etc. This will simply be a waste of resources.
 

Psychomacologist

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Anyone else find it creepy that school education now seems to consist almost entirely of aclimatising young people to authoritarian regimes?

/bitter cynicism>
 

Zoombie

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Hey, it's what schools used to do. I'm betting they taught absolutism and the divine right of kings back in the 18th century...

And isn't the modern school system designed to just make kids into effective factory workers anyway?
 

muravyets

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The quote from the link seemed to be referring to the entire restroom, including the full arrangement of cubicles and common area, as the "toilet."
 

LOG

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The quote from the link seemed to be referring to the entire restroom, including the full arrangement of cubicles and common area, as the "toilet."
The title and some of the usage of the word in the article seem to be treating "toilet" as an equivalent to the restroom (which it isn't--I'm inclined to think that the article is just trying to draw people in with the "toilet camera" phrase). Smacks of sensationalism reporting to me, but that's nothing new.
 

muravyets

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Really? I've heard "toilet" used to refer to any area of personal grooming, not just one with the fixture called a toilet in it. I've also heard the act or process of personal grooming called a "toilet" or "toilette," and the items for such grooming referred to as "toilet" or "toilette" articles. So I guess when it said cameras in the toilet but not in the cubicles, I assumed they were using the word that way.

Not that it matters, because pervs will perv over cam footage of teens washing their faces if it looks like it was gotten illicitly.
 

LOG

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Hmmm, for me "toilet" has only ever referred to the actual device. Maybe it's a geographical thing, like how everyone around here calls soda, pop.
 

Kathleen_

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Hmmm, for me "toilet" has only ever referred to the actual device. Maybe it's a geographical thing, like how everyone around here calls soda, pop.

The title and some of the usage of the word in the article seem to be treating "toilet" as an equivalent to the restroom (which it isn't--I'm inclined to think that the article is just trying to draw people in with the "toilet camera" phrase). Smacks of sensationalism reporting to me, but that's nothing new.

The quote from the link seemed to be referring to the entire restroom, including the full arrangement of cubicles and common area, as the "toilet."

In Australia and New Zealand "toilet" does refer to what an American would call a "restroom". The Dominion Post is a New Zealand newspaper and the writer was probably a New Zealander, writing for New Zealanders. His use of the word "toilet" would not have been for dramatic effect, but because that's what the room is called. I would NEVER refer to that room as a restroom and would only call it a bathroom if it actually contained a bath.

When I was younger I had some interesting conversations with Americans online when I mentioned I needed to take my toothbrush to school as I had a dentist's appointment after lunch and wanted to brush my teeth in the toilets. Or when I moaned that I left my hairbrush in the toilet.
 

benbradley

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Wow. That really isn't necessary. A camera outside the door and the occasional check by a staff member should be enough. There really shouldn't be cameras in the bathroom.

And searching through personal objects will not reveal anything the student doesn't want to be revealed. Since they know that they could be checked at any time, they'll simply hide things better. Or put false information in their diary/phone/laptop/etc. This will simply be a waste of resources.
Or just use PGP.

The US Government harrassed the **** out of the author of that thing. No doubt the school will try to live up to that for anyone who uses it.
In Australia and New Zealand "toilet" does refer to what an American would call a "restroom". The Dominion Post is a New Zealand newspaper and the writer was probably a New Zealander, writing for New Zealanders. His use of the word "toilet" would not have been for dramatic effect, but because that's what the room is called. I would NEVER refer to that room as a restroom and would only call it a bathroom if it actually contained a bath.

When I was younger I had some interesting conversations with Americans online when I mentioned I needed to take my toothbrush to school as I had a dentist's appointment after lunch and wanted to brush my teeth in the toilets. Or when I moaned that I left my hairbrush in the toilet.
I'm sure many English-speaking non-Americans are highly amused when they hear about a certain US Governmental home loan organization named F***** Mae.
 

Romantic Heretic

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Hey, it's what schools used to do. I'm betting they taught absolutism and the divine right of kings back in the 18th century...

And isn't the modern school system designed to just make kids into effective factory workers anyway?

Not exactly. The purpose of the education system is to turn out human resources suitable for employment, not human beings suitable for citizenship.

Citizenship is an obsolete concept in today's world.
 

Don

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effective factory workers = human resources

Nevermind most 'factories' are cubicle farms shuffling electrons these days. The training is still for a position as a cog in a big machine.
 

Alpha Echo

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They were to stop vandalism, deter smoking and allow the reintroduction of soap, absent for several years because it was used to plug sinks and flood them.

They had no soap? Isn't that a health code violation?

This whole thing...ridiculous.
 

Don

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They were afraid someone would shoot someone else with the soap squirter and put an eye out. :rolleyes:
 

veinglory

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The title and some of the usage of the word in the article seem to be treating "toilet" as an equivalent to the restroom (which it isn't--I'm inclined to think that the article is just trying to draw people in with the "toilet camera" phrase). Smacks of sensationalism reporting to me, but that's nothing new.

As a Kiwi I can tell you we called what Americans call the "rest room" the "toilet", the entire room/suite. And having a CCTV in there is hardly uncommon in many countries.
 

icerose

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I'm surprised they haven't switched to foam soaps. And the camera in the restroom but not the stalls does not surprise me. There have been cases of the bathrooms being dangerous. Cameras should help keep them safer though I don't love the idea, at least they have said outright they wouldn't put them in the actual stalls.

I don't see how it'll stop the smoking though, students will start smoking in the stalls instead of in the main area.

I don't like them having the ability to search through phones and diaries either. If it's criminal it can be turned over to the police.
 

SPMiller

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Never forget that the motivation for implementing public education in the first place was to provide sufficient workers for the Industrial Revolution.

Not that being skilled and knowledgeable is a bad thing. Remember how many people were educated before that. Uh, in case you have the rose-colored glasses problem, the answer is, "not many".