The news of a Mexican teacher is doing rounds on the Internet after he made his high-school students wear cardboard boxes on their heads, thus blocking their peripheral vision and preventing them from cheating during an exam. Luis Juárez Texis is the director of Campus 01 ‘El Sabinal’ at the College of Bachelors located in the Mexican state of Tlaxcala.
Luis Juárez Texis has been accused of breaking the basic human rights of his students and humiliating them. The accusations came after a picture of him was posted online and went viral. The photo shows Luis Juárez Texis overseeing an exam where the students are wearing cardboard boxes on their heads. The picture was shared by parents of the students on social media and along with a public statement demanding that the education authorities in Mexico dismiss Luis Juárez Texis.
Parents wrote on Facebook, ‘We denounce these acts of humiliation, physical, emotional and psychological violence, to which the students of Campus 01 El Sabinal, Tlaxcala, are subjected. This is how Luis Juárez Texis receives, treats, and humiliates students. As parents concerned about the academic training of our children, we beg the federal and state educational authorities and institutions that ensure the rights of young people to act immediately with the dismissal of Luis Juárez Texis, director of the said campus. We hope that this type of violence against the Tlaxcalteca youth is not overlooked, and that the federal and state authorities dismiss this public official and that they cease this type of humiliation in a space destined for learning…,’
The picture shows the students donning cardboard boxes with cut-out eye holes that enable them to only look in the front without turning their heads. The picture was picked up by mainstream media as well. However, most of the users were commending the teacher on finding an effective solution rather than condemning him. One person wrote, ‘Excellent work, teacher, this does not harm them, and in fact, parents should worry more about their children studying than about some boxes that teach them a great lesson.’ Another commented, ‘Excellent technique, congratulations to the teacher.’
Luis Juárez Texis, on the other hand, says that he only attended the exam as an observer and that the students actually consented to this anti-copying method. What do you think of this approach?