5-Star and GoGuardian should be integrated into students' lives

eyes turn red? RUN, Staff Writer — April 22, 2025

Privacy is Overrated: Educational monitoring tools must be integrated into the home to ensure student success (Collage by eyes turn red? RUN)

Oxford's adoption of surveillance tools 5-Star and GoGuardian has assisted the classroom by closely monitoring students' activity, raising proposals by administration on further extending Oxford's familial environment outside and inside the home, acting as a figurative "big brother." To ensure scholars remain on task at all times, 5-Star and GoGuardian must be installed on all student devices, security cameras, and physically on students — via a freshman AP Computer Science Principals developed microchip.

Currently used for bathroom breaks and homeroom visits, 5-Star shines with its ability to keep track of students. "Privacy," an obstacle at Oxford Academy, is no more: Administration must have access to students' whereabouts at all times, even during passing period. Intervention teams can be sent at the speed of a golf cart if students linger too close to one another, using cutthroat methods to tackle Oxford's fighting epidemic and public displays of aggression, as well as students' secret Connections rendezvouses. Students must adhere to the new regulations, or else face the consequences if they accidentally stand in the lunch line too close together.

At home, 5-Star's integration can track outside activities, enforcing accountability on studying. Similar to the infamous "5-minute bathroom pass," the program can allot a strict "10 minute visit to family" or a "30 minute dinner break" from academic pursuits. Those who exceed the allotted time face severe punishments spent cleaning spiderwebs from the lockers, or hand-washing P.E clothes soaked with the sweat of junior highers.

Similarly, educational software GoGuardian monitors students' screens. It must also be further installed all personal electronic devices from phones to electronic fridges, solving all doomscrolling and productivity issues.

Staff members can watch students' screens on GoGuardian to ensure students are focused on their academics. From a persistent pop-up to shutting a non-academic tab, GoGuardian monitoring, and staff members forcibly locking students into eKadence at home, are essential. Even after assignments are completed and the weekend begins, teachers must continue to take initiative to increase academic stamina and performance.

While some argue that these security measures infringe on student privacy and are "too similar to a dystopian society," the facts show that extensive monitoring is necessary to foster the familial environment that Oxford thrives on. In this digital age, academic success can only be accomplished if administrators directly address the distractions of the online world, even away from campus.

5-Star and GoGuardian's intrusive monitoring systems are expected to create a 100% increase in student productivity, attendance, and test scores as the school embraces its reworked mission statement: "Oxford is always watching." These changes are only the beginning stages of Oxford increasing monitoring — potentially becoming a full boarding school in the future — to truly support its students like a family.