Virtual School Protocol [Complaint]

The school mandates all students to attend classes with their cameras on, facing toward them, to wear their SGI polos, properly cleaned and pressed, and to have neat hair and, if worn, specific hair accessories.
Students are also forced to use their microphones while attendance is being recorded.

It is with these regulations that I disagree.

“All video cameras MUST BE ON and faces facing directly at the camera during Roll Call, Assembly & Class Time.”

I would assume there are multiple reasons for this. I say assume because no-one is willing to elaborate or discuss this topic with me, so I must resort to assumptions.

a) There are students that need extra supervision to ensure that they pay attention during classes.
b) Cameras allow teachers and students to feel as though they are in an in-person class.

My response to reason a) is as follows:

The possibility of students not paying attention is impossible to eliminate regardless of their cameras being on, and there are better methods to increasing the amount of activity in classes that don’t compromise other students’ comfort, privacy, and autonomy with their equipment. If teachers wish for students to be attentive in class, teachers should create an environment where students feel more compelled to pay attention. Class sessions should be less like lectures and more like discussions between the participants. Students should be asked more (and more thorough) questions to test their understanding of the topic, and if it is admitted that a student does not understand, a classmate or the teacher can aid them. This will invoke maturity in the students, and better prepare them for discussions later in their life. If a student is expected to actively participate in class, teachers must ensure that their classes are environments that allow students to fulfill that expectation.

My response to reason b):

There realistically is no point or purpose to having online classes resemble in-person classes, and, if my suggestions from the previous reason are implemented (or even simply tested), then students would already be more engaged and willing to learn. So, no, cameras are not necessary.

Other rules in the protocol, namely
“2. The school pants or skirts are optional but please ensure that once it is not
worn, appropriate skirts or trousers must be worn to ensure NO indecent
exposure.
3. Hair must be neatly groomed with no additional accessories such as caps or
hats. Boys must ensure that all hair is trimmed, and facial hair shaved. Girls
should adorn their hair only with hair accessories that are white, black or gold.
10. Students are NOT encouraged to use backgrounds and filters.
11. Students must be seated in a quiet area with no distracting movement,
noises or images in the background of the room,”

would be entirely or partially irrelevant if students had the option not to use their cameras.

“1. To ensure we have quality presentation, ALL our students (males and females)
MUST attend school in their SGI polo jerseys. The ties and cravats may be
omitted for virtual school. These jerseys must be properly clean and pressed.
2. The school pants or skirts are optional but please ensure that once it is not
worn, appropriate skirts or trousers must be worn to ensure NO indecent
exposure.
3. Hair must be neatly groomed with no additional accessories such as caps or
hats. Boys must ensure that all hair is trimmed, and facial hair shaved. Girls
should adorn their hair only with hair accessories that are white, black or gold.
4. Additional and excessive jewelry not encouraged at physical school are not
encouraged in virtual school.”

Apologies, but these may be the most irrelevant, pointless, and inexcusably invasive rules I have ever seen.
Uniforms are a flawed concept in general, however, I won’t delve further into that topic, and will just explain why I disagree with these rules for online school instead of attempting to abolish uniforms.

Primarily, there is no reason that you, as an institution, should be allowed to control what students wear in their own homes.
Furthermore, while this is supposedly to promote a “school environment”, forcing students to forego their freedom for a result that is barely accomplished and better accomplished by employing healthier, more involved teaching practices, is no reason to enforce a rule like this.
Finally, there is absolutely nothing wrong with any of the “not encouraged” practices or adornments stated (indecent exposure is absent from this, but even indecent exposure is usually taken too far in schools, and the way to solve the problem of “distractions” is to rebuke, or educate the people that are being distracted, instead of restricting the freedoms of those who are being “distracting”), and there is literally no valid reason that I can see for the bans of:
Caps,
Un-groomed hair,
Facial hair,
Any non-white, black, or gold hair accessories,
Additional or Excessive jewelry,
or any clothing that isn’t the SGI uniform.

“Students must be seated in a quiet area with no distracting movement, noises or images in the background of the room.”

To this, I’m going to call on one of my friends to share their input:

Their statement read,

“I don’t know the general idea of your school’s community, but not everybody is able to do this. Some people live in tighter areas where they are unable to consistently quiet spaces. If there are people talking, I’m not going to unmute, because I don’t want people to hear my background noise for privacy purposes.
If my parents are arguing for example, I’m not going to unmute. However, I risk the failure of my class because ‘EVERY STUDENT is expected to ACTIVELY PARTICIPATE in his or her classes'” (Orbital).

I couldn’t agree more.

Also, as a final note, please, use separate zoom calls for each of your teachers. This ensures that students will be able to reliably get to their online classes during the regular blended program instead of online students being ignored, and also allows navigation to those classes to be easier.

I hope the staff considers some of these.

Have a wonderful day.