Recently, Taft High has purchased software called GoGuardian, which is a program that allows teachers to monitor what students are doing on their computers in real time. This grants easy and quick viewing access of who’s on task… and who needs to get to work. Although some students believe this program is a positive and beneficial thing for both teachers and students, as it keeps us all on task, where do we draw the line between an invasion of privacy and necessary for school?

        The program allows teachers to constantly view all of the nearby monitors, so teachers can watch every single letter that you type and every image that pops up on your screen. Students usually try their best to stay on task, yet there’s always some bit of time when students tend to get distracted, and then try to regain focus (either from themselves noticing that they’re off task or by being told by teachers).

       Therefore, the issues of students’ rights must be taken into account. It may start with simply monitoring school-purchased technology, but then wouldn’t the next step be to monitor all of the traffic on the school network? When will our texts and our phone calls be monitored by our school? When should we draw the line before this rapid downward spiral?

       Well, simply put, the current program of GoGuardian doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon, and it seems that it will remain for years to come. However, even as minors, students must recognize that although their rights and ideas may not be taken into consideration as much as an adult would be, they continue to hold their God-given rights no matter what. As United States citizens, our privacy shall not be unnecessarily compromised by any group, body, or institution whatsoever.