The Great Camera Dilemma arrived, unheralded and largely unexpected, at about the same time that Zoom burst onto the educational scene. Should students attend virtual school with the camera on to promote class cohesion and attentiveness, teachers wondered, or be given the choice to shut if off to protect privacy and honor individual preferences? Like many issues in contemporary education, the dilemma pitted traditional notions of classroom order against emerging concerns about equity. But most students aren’t staying off-camera for the anticipated reasons, according to a new study. The most-cited reason? 41% of students said they turned their cameras off because they were “concerned about their appearance”: they had messy hair, were wearing pajamas, or hadn’t yet showered, the study reported. Relatedly, 17% of students with cameras on felt that everyone was watching them, creating a sensation of unbearable self-consciousness. Equity-related issues did crop up. Underrepresented mino...