I CCTV you

Rhona Canoy

SO… Some parents whose children attend my tiny school are demanding that we install a closed-circuit television system. Although I understand the purpose of it, like most things, it creates a moral dilemma within myself.

How ubiquitous has the CCTV become in our daily perception of life. Even side-of-theoad carinderias have some sort of low-level system installed. Like most things, we Filipinos have taken this to the extreme. If you pay enough attention, you will notice that every single regular news broadcast has some crime reported because it was caught on CCTV. So back to the dilemma.

It becomes a moral issue for me because we have a school. More than that, we are a school. We teach math, reading, writing, science to young easily-influenced individuals whose parents have big dreams for them. Sadly, we also end up supporting whatever seems to be lacking or minimal in their home. This means that the discussions revolving around honesty, responsibility, accountability, making mistakes and growing from them, and many other life skills happen in our school. Since when did the CCTV become the purveyor of all these?

It is disgraceful to me that I expect our students to learn to be honest because somebody is watching. Not to do something wrong–whether it is stealing, vandalism, cheating or running down the hallways naked–because someone is watching. It seems we are relegating the choice to be a right proper human being to the constant watchful eye of the CCTV. Because someone is watching. So inherently we are acknowledging that we cannot be good people unless someone is watching.

I sometimes wonder. If there was a CCTV with sound installed within the walls of the congressional and senatorial bathrooms, what would we see and hear? Would our belief in the goodness and dedication of our lawmakers be affirmed? Or repudiated? Or would they become better lawmen because someone is watching? All the time? Or would they find another corner or broom closet where nobody can see or hear?

Personally, I struggle with lots of questions every single day. Is it time for me to give up believing that some good will come out of what we are trying to teach our students? Should I overstep boundaries and call thoughtless parents and urge them to pay more attention to their children? Should I surrender to the call and install a CCTV? And in so doing, should I just surrender the teaching of good values to this piece of technology?

We have become so dependent (and mindlessly so) on technology. We depend so much on our smartphones (I have written about this before) to keep us “connected”, to what and whom I’m not really sure. We look to the CCTV to tell us who has done something wrong, and also to scare people into behaving properly because of it. I suppose because it is the easier way. Not the best way. The easier way.

I have a problem with the concept of the CCTV because it does not make the world a better place. There are going to be many who will disagree with this statement. That’s okay. I respect their laziness. To me, it is the ultimate surrender to the belief that the world has gone to the dogs, and that we want to watch while it does so. So I’m glad that my life hourglass is starting to run out of sand. Because I am lost, and (although it rarely happens) I don’t know what to do.

Actually, this is a bigger issue than just having a video record of wrongs being done. We have become a community of voyeurs, watching, waiting, hoping against hope that technology will make things right. For those of us who believe in a much higher power, we forget that there is an ultimate CCTV.

God is always watching.