Emotions are a vital part of human life. Although they are sometimes overlooked or seem to not be present simply by looking at someone's face, they are used every day. The article "Making Mona Lisa Smile," introduces information regarding a technology which is able to detect the most common emotions. While this invention is widely seen as incredible, if not revolutionary, the Facial Action Coding System's presence is not valuable in classrooms.

The Facial Action Coding System does not have much value when it comes to using this technology to read students' emotinal expressions. The technology itself, while advanced in certain ways, is not that much more effective than a teacher's or students's abiltiy to distinguish feelings. The author, in his article presenting the many positives of this technology, addresses the idea that the system is able, from a 3D model it has built, to analyze the msucles of the face, matching their activity to certain basic emotions. The technology's ability to recognize emotions based on facial features and human behavior is something that humans have been doing automatically for centuries. The specific muscle structure is not necessary to determining one's feelings, as their use show noticeable changes on the face and are visible to the naked eye. Although this might be quicker, the technology would not have much value for classroom situations, as teachers could easily, while paying more attention to their students, notice the same details, identify changes in emotion, and alter their ways of teaching accordingly. Overall, the human's ability to identify basic emotional expressions would render this technology rather unvaluable in classrooms.

Similarly, the purely scientific origin of the Facial Action Coding System decreases the value this technological innovation would have for students in a classroom. While it might be successful in identifying the emotions of students, the Facial Action Coding System relies purely on the muscle behavior and structure, as mentioned in the article, meaning that no other factors would be taken into consideration. Many factors other than emotion, such as fatigue, can alter a student's appearance or behavior. The coding system would most likely, as a result of these underlying factors, as well as the very limited amount of emotions it can perceive, make the technolgy unvaluable when comes times to read student's emotional expressions. The generalization of emotions detected would produce false or unaccurate results, rendering the program useless in classrooms. The Facial Action Coding System, due to its computerized nature and lack of human perception, would not be a valuable addition to classrooms.

The lack of privacy this new technology brings makes the invention unvaluable. While some may think this to be a good way to improve student's lives throughout the school day, this facial recognition would raise many questions and controversy regarding student privacy. As the author states in the article, the Facial Action Coding System could be implemented in computers with the purpose of regulating ads and personalizing them to someone's preferences, likes, and dislikes. This is not only unnecessary, but would mean having a constant stream of visual information regarding students being sorted and analyzed. If this were implemented in classrooms, a number of parents and students alike would find this to be an intrusion of privacy, resulting in complaints, debates and overall unnecessary problems added to the education system. While this innovation might be somewhat useful or bring more attention to student's feelings, the excessive problems and controversy it would create makes the student emotional expression detector technology unvaluable and not a good addition to school.

The Facial Action Coding System is not valuable in reading the emotional expressions of students in a classroom. The technology, although it could properly analyze the muscles and facial structure of students in classrooms, could easily be matched by a teacher, does not take in all possible factors, and would conjure up many questions regarding privacy in schools. While this program would have little to no value in classes, it could provide help to investigative work. Emotions are extremely versatile and human expressions, although they share some similarities, widely vary based off of each person and circumstance.