Can you find Lithuania on a map? What else do you know about this Baltic nation with 2.8 million people?
Word + Quiz: synecdoche
synecdoche sə-ˈnek-də-(ˌ)kē noun
: a figure of speech in which part of something is used to refer to or represent the whole thing (or vice versa)
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The word synecdoche has appeared in six articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on May 14 in the Opinion column “A de Gaulle of Our Own” by Ross Douthat:
In our political battles everyone is constantly trying to claim ownership of contested symbols — in the flag, the Statue of Liberty, the Bill of Rights — in order to assert that theirs is the true Americanism, theirs the only path of making us great again or taking our country back.
In our media frenzies we keep generating controversies, from Kavanaugh to Covington, that resemble the Dreyfus Affair, 1890s France’s great scandal — in which every cultural division is somehow distilled into a single debate over guilt and innocence, with a representative figure’s virtue or turpitude as a synecdoche for everything dire our factions each believe about the other …
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Learning With: ‘You’ve Conquered the Escape Room. But Can You Escape the Lab?’
3. According to Dr. Kwiat, what makes a good escape room? How does his LabEscape illustrate those qualities?
4. Mr. Chang discovered that his background in physics did not necessarily help him in solving LabEscape. What skills did he find were more valuable?
5. What does Dr. Kwiat hope students gain from their LabEscape experience? How does the story of Erica Phillpott’s 12-year-old daughter demonstrate the success of his goals?
6. Mr. Chang writes:
One puzzle involves extracting a key to open a lock to get to another clue. Dr. Kwiat designed the solution, but was surprised when a participant figured out an alternative way of getting the key.
Then someone figured out a third way, and someone else figured out a fourth way. Eventually, he stopped being surprised. Now, escape room players have come up with 18 different ways of fishing out the key.
Why do you think Dr. Kwiat was initially surprised that participants discovered alternative ways to solve his puzzles? How might this anecdote be a key to understanding the success of escape rooms? How might this insight have beneficial implications for all teachers in designing their curriculum and lesson plans?
Finally, tell us more about what you think:
— What can teachers and students learn from the article and the story of Dr. Kwiat’s escape room? What did you find most interesting or fascinating in the piece?
— What has been your experience with escape rooms? Which was your favorite and why? Have you ever done an escape room in school? If yes, what was the educational purpose and did it fulfill those goals?
— Do you think Dr. Kwiat’s LabEscape is an effective way to encourage students to deepen their interest in science? Would you want to experience LabEscape? Do you think you would be able to escape in time?
— What are your experiences with science? Do you find your science classes to be engaging, challenging or meaningful? Have you ever had a teacher like Dr. Kwiat who is able to make science come alive? What do you think would make your own science classes more engaging and worthwhile? What could your science teachers learn from Dr. Kwiat?
— Do you think all teachers should incorporate escape rooms, or other immersive games, into their classes? Why or why not?
Basketball, Human Rights, the Met Gala and Nintendo: 25 Recent Times Articles Recommended by Teens
1. “Becoming Greta: ‘Invisible Girl’ to Global Climate Activist, With Bumps Along the Way”
Someone our age being such an activist for something so important is changing the world … It made me wonder if we had more activists who are children would more children try to change their ways?
— Sierra McKinley, J.R Masterman
2. “Why Giving Up Is Sometimes the Best Way to Solve a Problem”
I chose to write about it because it really resonates with me and a lot of other students. Sometimes I get so overloaded with work and I get so stressed, that I have to take a break and come back to it later, or truthfully, never.
— Molly Flaxman, Masterman School Philadelphia
3. “Never Solved, a College Dorm Fire Has Become One Man’s Obsession”
I thought it was interesting how a man dedicated his career to finding justice, and creating an occupation of one’s own the freedom and justice and that is why it represents the american dream.
— Camryn Glendon, The Governor’s Academy
4. “Birds Beware: The Praying Mantis Wants Your Brain”
I was shocked, disturbed, and interested all at the same time. I thought Praying Mantises only ate small insects like bees and stuff, but birds? Really? It’s kind of scary, to be honest.
— Anna Praticò, Julia R. Masterman, Philadelphia
5. “Are Straight A’s Always a Good Thing?”
I have been really stressed out about my grades this year, and I still would like to have straight A’s, but sometimes, school is not worth every single moment of your life.
— Sienna Shelton, Masterman, Philadephia
6. “Aeroflot Plane Makes Fiery Emergency Landing in Russia, Killing 41”
The reason I chose to read about the horrible tragedy was that I heard nothing about it here in the United States. I strongly believe that teenagers at my age should be learning about what is going on across the world not just what is happening in the U.S.
— Shane O’Leary, Byfield, MA
7. “I Will Not Stay Silent. Our Leaders Are Failing Human Rights.”
The video opened my eyes to what was going on in the rest of the world- children being tortured, and human rights being snatched away. I’ve always focused on the local issues but this video showed me an eye opening, horrifying future.
— Kristina Kitsul, Masterman Philadelphia
8. “2019 Met Gala, Photos and Updates With Harry Styles, Lady Gaga and Kim Kardashian West”
As ridiculous as it the outfits may be, you have to give points for massive creativity. It’s not everyday someone walks around dressed as a chandelier with no questions asked.
— Sarah Wong, Julia R Masterman, Philadelphia
9. “On Being an Outsider”
Almost everyone has been excluded at some point, definitely some people more than others. It sucks when you feel like the odd one out, and like you’re just tagging along in the back with the group.
— Kate Chin, Masterman, Philadelphia, PA
10. “Sandra Bland, It Turns Out, Filmed Traffic Stop Confrontation Herself”
The article about Sandra Bland really stood out to me because it shows the racism, and brutality black people face everyday, and it talks about how corrupt the justice system is for black people.
— Ahsaan M., Masterman, Philadelphia, PA
11. “What Happens When Abortion Is Banned?”
Kids my age need to know about his because I it something we could potentially change and help. I know I didn’t know any of this existed and I bet other kids don’t know either, plus everyone is talking about how our generation is going to change the world but how are we going to do that if we don’t know all the facts on one of the most controversial subjects?
— Mariska, Masterman school, Philly
12. “Teenagers Say Depression and Anxiety Are Major Issues Among Their Peers”
This article stood out to me because a lot of my friends have a mental illness … It makes me disappointed that teens aren’t well informed about mental health issues when it is so prevalent. Schools usually don’t touch on that topic, but I think they really should start to.
— Ami S, Masterman, Philadelphia
13. “The Best Nintendo Switch Accessories”
Personally, I always love reading reviews by the Wirecutter, a subdivision of the New York Times that picks their favorite of a certain type of item and reviews why it is the best. As a major tech geek, I always am looking to save money but also get the best deal.
— Nicolas Dorazio, J.R. Masterman School, Philadelphia PA
14. “Humans Are Speeding Extinction and Altering the Natural World at an ‘Unprecedented’ Pace”
I found it riveting, in a terrible way, how the devastation to Earth has become so bad that regular conservation efforts will no longer be enough to save Earth and that all nations now need to contribute in conserving our planet if life on Earth has any chance.
— Amalia T., Masterman, Philadelphia
15. “Mushrooms May Reduce the Risk of Memory Problems”
I have questions. Who thought that mushrooms of all things should be tested to see if they can do any benefit to the human mind … Did they conduct these experiments to multiple other vegetables and fruits to debate over which could be a potential benefit towards mental illnesses? This seems like such an absurd idea to test.
— Janey L., Masterman, Philadephia, PA
16. “Facebook Opens a Command Post to Thwart Election Meddling in Europe”
I think that people my age should learn about this and the effects that social media may have because when it’s time for us to vote we should know that there is fake news out there and to not believe and let everything we see on the internet affect our decisions.
— Jared Way-Gregory, Masterman, Philly
17. “Silicon Valley Came to Kansas Schools. That Started a Rebellion.”
Should we accept a future where education is comprised of keystrokes and some mouse clicks? I don’t think I would want a future like that.
— Brian E., Masterman, Philadelphia, PA
18. “Dying Is No Reason to Stop Fighting”
It’s the kind of story that should ignite a spark somewhere within you and get you think. It should make you inspired. It teaches us that it doesn’t matter who you are or what’s going on in your life. That you too can stand for something you believe in. That anyone can make a difference.
— Lilly Eubanks, Hoggard High School, Wilmington, NC
19. “Treating a Patient With a Nightmarish Condition”
I remember myself wondering, as the article began, whether I had somehow stumbled onto an excerpt from a horror short story. My feelings of dread and shock only climbed higher and higher as the article went on, as it poked endlessly at my deepest insecurities, my most hidden fears.
— Seonbin Song, Blacksburg, Virginia
20. “New York Rain: Vintage Sights and Sounds of a Soaked City”
As much as I value necessary discourse in politics and climate change, snapshots of everyday moments serve as reminders of all that is good in this world, in between hard-hitting exposés, and are just as essential to the news cycle. These photographs place emphasis on what connects us.
— Elizabeth A., Upper East Side
21. “Elite Colleges Announce Record Low Admission Rates in Wake of College Cheating Scandal”
I am someone who gets very anxious about my chances of getting into a dream college, and every grade I receive makes me think about how it impacts my chances. When the news broke of this college admissions scandal across the country it made me doubt my abilities to get into a great university.
— Brennan McCauley, Hoggard High School, NC
22. “A Mitten, a Key, a Unicorn: Did You Drop Something?”
I began to notice things I would have once not seen: a child’s hot pink glove, a broken pair of glasses, a note passed in class. All seem like small objects, you could maybe even call them pointless objects. But the story behind a object is what makes the difference.
— Bailey Barefoot, Hoggard Highschool, NC
23. “You Are Not as Good at Kissing as You Think. But You Are Better at Dancing.”
I am both very confident and critical of myself, which can be very confusing. It made me feel comforted, knowing that others feel the same.
— Keira Braithwaite, Hoggard High
24. “Joel Embiid Is Having Fun, Making the Sixers Look Unstoppable”
I chose this article because it talks about my favorite sport, basketball and it talks about Joel Embiid, one of my favorite basketball players. This article also features the Philadelphia 76ers, my home, and favorite, basketball team.
— Aryan Patel, Philadelphia, PA Masterman
25. “Years Ago, My Sister Vanished. I See Her Whenever I Want.”
Overall, whenever I read people’s stories, whether they are sharing their deepest thoughts or fighting for a cause, I realize the power of words and their impact long after we’ve clicked off the article. This type of writing inspires me to use writing as an outlet for me, to explore my feelings or to voice my opinion when I don’t know how to speak it outright.
— Michelle Lamas, Hoggard High School, Wilmington, NC
Learning With: ‘U.S.-China Trade Standoff May Be Initial Skirmish in Broader Economic War’
4. Why is a trade deal unlikely to change China’s behavior?
5. How do many in China view the United States? How do they view China? How do these views contrast with the American perspective of the two countries?
6. Why has China been resistant to the emerging terms of the trade deal?
7. Since the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, the prevailing view in the United States was that close economic engagement with China would produce an increasingly democratic country that would be closely tied to an international economic order founded mainly on Western liberal ideals. Did this prove to be true? Why or why not?
8. How have Sino-American relations shifted in recent years? What are the future implications of this new relationship?
Finally, tell us more about what you think:
Is a trade war an effective way to restrain China’s ambitions and methods of influence?
In “Trump’s Trade War Escalation Will Exact Economic Pain, Adviser Says,” Jeanna Smialek, Jim Tankersley and Mark Landler write about how this conflict could affect everyday Americans:
President Trump’s chief economic adviser said on Sunday that American consumers would bear some pain from the escalating trade war with China, contradicting Mr. Trump’s claim that his tariffs are a multibillion-dollar, mostly one-way payment by China to the American Treasury.
The comments from Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, came after the 11th round of trade negotiations broke off without a deal, prompting Mr. Trump to raise tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese products and begin a process to impose levies on nearly every product China exports to the United States.
“In fact, both sides will pay,” Mr. Kudlow said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Both sides will suffer on this.”
Mr. Kudlow’s acknowledgment of economic pain, while widely shared by economists, contradicted the president’s view that trade wars are easy to win and that the burden falls disproportionately on America’s trading partners. Mr. Trump again asserted on Monday that there was “no reason” that American consumers would pay the tariffs.
Both Mr. Kudlow and the president say that a protracted trade war will ultimately be in the United States’ financial interest. Mr. Kudlow said that any pain would be worth the price if it forced China to treat American companies more fairly.
“You’ve got to do what you got to do,” Mr. Kudlow said. “We have had unfair trading practices all these years and so in my judgment, the economic consequences are so small that the possible improvement in trade and exports and open markets for the United States, this is worthwhile doing.”
Take a look at these lists of goods that the latest tariffs could make more expensive, including back packs, dog collars, strawberry jam and soy sauce. How many of these do you consume on a regular basis? To what extent might you and your family be affected by these tariffs?
Do you agree with Mr. Trump and Mr. Kudlow that “any pain would be worth the price if it forced China to treat American companies more fairly”? In your opinion, are the tariffs worthwhile if they mean curtailing China’s influence in the world? Why or why not?
Which Television Shows Are You Sad to See Come to an End?
Will you watch the final episodes of “The Big Bang Theory” or “Game of Thrones?”
Do you think they can live up to the expectations and hype? Or, do you think you will be disappointed?
In “‘The Big Bang Theory’ and the Long Goodbye: How Swan Songs Are Changing TV,” Margaret Lyons writes:
Two of the biggest shows on TV are ending this week: “The Big Bang Theory” finishes its 12th season on Thursday, and “Game of Thrones” ends its eighth season Sunday night. One’s a multicamera comedy that fits squarely within network traditions, the other’s a flashy fantasy epic chockablock with violent murder. One is symbolic — perhaps unfairly — of cultural uncoolness, while the other spawns viewing parties and obsessive podcasts from legacy media companies.
And yet both are getting the same kind of finale rollout, the kind a lot of shows get these days, like “Veep” just had: an announcement well in advance of the premiere that the coming season would be the show’s last, a full-court media press of oral histories and it’s-hard-but-it’s-time talk show appearances, well-placed tributes from high-profile fans. Clip shows and after-shows. Photos from the final table read on the cast’s Instagram accounts, and then maybe a photo essay of the final days in a magazine.
We’ve had months and months to gird ourselves. Which isn’t to say those finales will necessarily be good or beloved, just that fans of the shows have been well shepherded into the ideas that these shows are indeed ending.
Big shows have always gotten fanfare finale rollouts, but in recent years, and especially for the 2018-19 season, network, cable and streaming outlets have been big on farewell seasons for smaller shows too. Netflix gave viewers ample warning about the end of “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.” The final season of “Broad City” was one big goodbye, an almost therapeutic guide through the main characters’ maturation process and thus the end of the freewheeling-young-adult premise of the show.
“Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” walked its audience and its protagonist through all the show’s what-ifs. The series finale of “Catastrophe” achieved a kind of ecstatic perfection that gave me spiritual resolution in ways I cannot attain in regular life. I will be crushed when “Jane the Virgin” ends this summer, but I will be as prepared as possible. Every living person who watched FXX’s “You’re the Worst” wrote a loving eulogy to it on a website, or ranked its episodes, or praised its depictions of PTSD and depression one last time.
Transitions, man. Anyone who’s ever torn a toddler from a playground or nudged a crowd from cocktail hour to the reception hall knows people need warning. We need structure. We need guidance. We need a dang minute to collect ourselves. We need closure.
The article concludes:
Finales have taken on a strange significance of their own as “sticking the landing” has become a meme unto itself — but also as reboots and revivals have meant the end of endings. They are now a precious spectacle, an impossible beauty, a relic. So having time to prepare the shrine doesn’t feel like so much to ask.
Students, read the entire article, then tell us:
— Which television shows are you sad to see end this season? Why will you miss them? What do you like about them?
— Are you a big fan of “Big Bang Theory”? What about “Game of Thrones”? Are you watching either of the final episodes? If you’re answering this question before watching the finale, how do you think the show will end? If you’ve already watched the finale, what did you think? Did it “stick the landing”?
— How much television do you watch? Is it still a popular medium with you and your peers? What shows do you absolutely never miss? Which shows do you think “it’s time to go”?
— In “‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Avengers’: 2 Times Critics on the Power and Pain of Endings,” A.O. Scott says:
Truthfully though, most endings are disappointing, at least in proportion to the complexity and interest of the story that came before. We feel let down partly because we’re just sorry something we’ve invested time and feeling in is over, but also because the force that held us in thrall is dissipating.
The classical genres sidestep this problem by spoiling everything in advance. A tragedy ends in death, a comedy in a wedding, with some suspense about who dies or who gets married. The release an audience experiences at the end is partly relief that the order of things, disrupted by the anarchic forces of violence or desire, has been restored.
Modern narrative is a different beast, of course, and what “Thrones,” which originated in a series of novels, shares with other canonical examples of the genre is a sense of multiple, branching possibilities, a thick and tangled middle full of intriguing loose ends. The tying up all that involves foreclosing some possibilities in favor of others. Solutions tend to be less exciting than mysteries.
— Do you agree that most endings are disappointing? Do you like an ending that ties up all loose ends or one that still leaves you wanting more? What do you think makes for a good finale episode?
— What is your favorite television finale of all time?
Further Resources:
I Ignored ‘Game of Thrones’ for 8 Years. Then Inhaled It in 5 Weeks.
I Love ‘The Big Bang Theory.’ And You Should, Too.
Students 13 and older are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.
Focus Here
What do you think this image is saying? Can you relate to it personally in any way? What is your opinion of its message?
Tell us in the comments, then read the related article to learn what this illustration is all about.
Find many more ways to use our Picture Prompt feature in this lesson plan.
Word + Quiz: travail
travail trə-ˈvāl , ˈtra-ˌvāl noun and verb
noun: use of physical or mental energy; hard work
noun: concluding state of pregnancy; from the onset of contractions to the birth of a child
verb: work hard
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The word travail has appeared in 122 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on March 5 in “Carlos Ghosn, Former Nissan Chairman, Nears Release From Jail” by Ben Dooley:
Carlos Ghosn, the high-profile auto executive whose legal travails have riveted Japan and global investors, is poised to leave jail after a court granted his latest request for bail.
A Tokyo judge approved Mr. Ghosn’s request midday Tuesday, ordering bail at 1 billion yen, or almost $9 million, and hours later he refused prosecutors’ arguments that Mr. Ghosn should not be freed. Prosecutors have repeatedly sought to keep Mr. Ghosn behind bars until trial.
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Promote News Literacy With Our Weekly Current Events Quiz for Students
Note: Here is how to access our complete collection of Weekly News Quizzes for Students.
How can we get teenagers to pay attention to the news? After all, if we want them to actively participate in a democratic society and be informed citizens of a complicated world, they must have a sense of what’s going on right now, both at home and abroad.
Teachers are no strangers to this goal, and they’ve enlisted a whole range of strategies to get students to stay informed, including Current Events Friday, research projects on modern-day issues of injustice and simulations like Mock Congress. And with growing fears about global misinformation campaigns and unreliable news feeds, helping young people develop healthy news habits feels increasingly urgent.
We have many resources on The Learning Network to help, of course. Features like our Student Opinion questions and our Articles of the Day invite students to engage with important events and issues daily, and our lesson plans offer guidance for teaching with news across the curriculum. But perhaps the feature that most efficiently tackles this goal is our Weekly News Quiz for Students.
The Learning Network has published a regular news quiz for students for nearly our entire 20-year history. For instance, check out this quiz from our old site, published in October 2009, back when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, and safety experts worried that hybrid cars were too quiet.
But even before The Learning Network was created, The Times found ways to quiz students on the news. Here are three questions from a news quiz published in the Feb. 5, 1968, edition of The School Weekly, a paper The Times sent into classrooms in the late 1960s. Can you get any of them right? (Answers, as well as links to related Times reporting, appear at the end of this post.)
These days, we publish a fresh quiz every Tuesday morning, featuring 10 interactive, multiple-choice questions that draw from the most important or interesting national and global news of the week.
Here’s how the quiz works, and how you might use it.
Start with a “mystery photo”:
Each week’s quiz starts the same way: “Above is an image related to one of the news stories we followed this past week. Do you know what it shows?”
The photo you see here illustrated our April 16, 2019, quiz. Can you guess what it had to do with the news that week? (Hint: It’s from this article, which begins, “Astronomers announced on Wednesday that at last they had captured an image of the unobservable.”)
Students have to complete the quiz each week before they can see the original photo caption and a link to the article.
One way to engage students? Before you show them the photo we’ve chosen, ask them what event from the week they might choose to illustrate for the mystery picture if they were the news quiz editor. (Students who are regular Times readers might even be able to suggest specific images.)
Next, answer nine interactive questions about that week’s news:
The first nine questions of our 10-question quiz test students about the news — but not just front-page or hard-news stories. We also focus on sports, culture, business and science happenings that we think informed students are likely to know about.
To craft the quiz, we take original Times reporting and remove a key word or term to make a fill-in-the-blank multiple choice question. We always provide a photo to add greater context.
Once students select an answer, not only do they immediately find out if they answered correctly, but they also see a brief explainer that provides background on the news story — context pulled directly from Times reporting. Each links to the original article so students can learn more.
And, to inject a note of friendly competition, students instantly find out how they did on each question compared with other quiz-takers.
Invite your students to experiment with different news habits to see which practices best prepare them for the weekly quiz. For example, one week they could watch, or listen to, 10 minutes of a morning news show before school. Another week, they could scroll through the headlines on the NYT app on their phones, even if they don’t have a subscription. Or, they could sign up for The Times’s free Morning Briefing emails. After a few weeks, students can reflect on which news habit seems most effective at keeping them up-to-date on current events.
Spot the “fake news” headline in our 10th question:
Every week, Question 10 of our News Quiz asks students to read four headlines and identify which one is not from The Times, but is, instead, a headline published by the satirical news site The Onion.
Interestingly, this question reliably ranks as one of our most difficult to answer each week. Try the quiz above and see if you can figure out why. We think it’s because, in order to answer correctly, you’re forced to slow down and read very carefully. The wrong answer often seems plausible at a glance … until you realize it just can’t be true.
On the other hand, as this tweet points out, sometimes real life does imitate satire, so knowing what’s happening in the news in general will also help students sort fact from fiction.
One way students can get better at this question is simply to practice. They can use our News Quiz archive to access dozens of these questions in already published quizzes.
Finally, find out your score, and see if you were right about the mystery photo:
When students complete the quiz, they get a final score. They also get the promised reveal for the “mystery photo.”
If they’re looking for more of a challenge, we also invite them to try their hand at The Times’s other weekly news quiz … for adults.
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When You’re Done: Still More News Literacy Resources
• Take our News Diet Challenge.
In 2017, we challenged students to do a 24- to 48-hour “news audit” to analyze what news they got on a regular basis, and where and how they accessed it. We then asked them to experiment with their “news diets” and make them more healthy, via exploring a variety of sources, kinds of content and platforms that might address anything they’d identified they were lacking.
Finally, we challenged them to write an essay or create a video to reflect on what they found. The video above, by Emma Claire Lisk, was one of several that won. You can see more, and read some winning essays, in “10 Things We Learned About Teenagers and the News: The Results of Our Student ‘News Diet’ Challenge.” If you’re a teacher or student who would like to try the challenge yourself, check out our lesson plan, “Improving Your ‘News Diet’: A Three-Step Lesson Plan for Teenagers and Teachers.”
• See how well you remember a year, or years, of news.
Every December we publish a special quiz that asks questions about the 50 top news events of the year — and, of course, links back to Times reporting about those events. How many can you get right from 2018?
And since we have quizzes that cover every important event since Jan. 1, 2000, how far back in time can you go and still ace most questions?
Should Facial Recognition Technology Be Banned?
Facial recognition is a technology that uses statistical measurements of people’s facial features to digitally identify them in photos, videos or real-time.
Have you ever used any kind of facial recognition technology — say, to verify your identity at the airport, unlock your smartphone, sort and tag photos online, or anything else?
What are your thoughts on it? Does it excite you or creep you out? How would you feel if the police and other government agencies were to use this technology in your community? Why?
In “San Francisco Bans Facial Recognition Technology,” Kate Conger, Richard Fausset and Serge F. Kovaleski write about why the city has decided to outlaw its use by law enforcement:
San Francisco, long at the heart of the technology revolution, took a stand against potential abuse on Tuesday by banning the use of facial recognition software by the police and other agencies.
The action, which came in an 8-to-1 vote by the Board of Supervisors, makes San Francisco the first major American city to block a tool that many police forces are turning to in the search for both small-time criminal suspects and perpetrators of mass carnage.
The authorities used the technology to help identify the suspect in the mass shooting at an Annapolis, Md., newspaper last June. But civil liberty groups have expressed unease about the technology’s potential abuse by government amid fears that it may shove the United States in the direction of an overly oppressive surveillance state.
Aaron Peskin, the city supervisor who sponsored the bill, said that it sent a particularly strong message to the nation, coming from a city transformed by tech.
“I think part of San Francisco being the real and perceived headquarters for all things tech also comes with a responsibility for its local legislators,” Mr. Peskin said. “We have an outsize responsibility to regulate the excesses of technology precisely because they are headquartered here.”
But critics said that rather than focusing on bans, the city should find ways to craft regulations that acknowledge the usefulness of face recognition. “It is ridiculous to deny the value of this technology in securing airports and border installations,” said Jonathan Turley, a constitutional law expert at George Washington University. “It is hard to deny that there is a public safety value to this technology.”
There will be an obligatory second vote next week, but it is seen as a formality.
Similar bans are under consideration in Oakland and in Somerville, Mass., outside of Boston. In Massachusetts, a bill in the State Legislature would put a moratorium on facial recognition and other remote biometric surveillance systems. On Capitol Hill, a bill introduced last month would ban users of commercial face recognition technology from collecting and sharing data for identifying or tracking consumers without their consent, although it does not address the government’s uses of the technology.
Matt Cagle, a lawyer with the A.C.L.U. of Northern California, on Tuesday summed up the broad concerns of facial recognition: The technology, he said, “provides government with unprecedented power to track people going about their daily lives. That’s incompatible with a healthy democracy.”
Students, read the entire article, then tell us:
— What are some of the potential benefits of law enforcement and government having access to facial recognition technology? If it were used in your community, do you think you would feel safer? Why or why not?
— In the related video, Aaron Peskin, the city supervisor who sponsored the bill, says:
“It’s psychologically unhealthy when people know they’re being watched in every aspect of the public realm, on the streets, in parks. That’s not the kind of city I want to live in.”
Do you agree? How would you feel if you knew that every time you went out in public you were being watched and could easily be identified through this technology? How would it change your behavior?
— Studies have shown that some of the most popular surveillance systems show bias; African-Americans, women and others are more likely than white men to be incorrectly identified. What risks might these groups face if facial recognition technology were used for policing? In your opinion, how big of an issue is this bias, and why?
— Do you think it’s too early to completely ban this technology? If surveillance does have public safety value, is it irresponsible not to use it? Could a ban limit its future development and potential? Or, is outlawing it the best way to make sure it doesn’t spiral out of control?
— What other potential benefits or dangers do you foresee with the use of facial recognition technology?
— Considering all of the above, do you think the use of facial recognition technology by the police or government should be banned? If so, why? If not, what limits, if any, should be placed on its use?
