In fundyland it is assumed that the only reason why the average person would desire freedom from prying eyes would be to perform some great act of wickedness. Private correspondence, private conversations, and private contemplations among those who are not in leadership are seen as the very tools of Satan.
Any locked container probably contains liquor, Harry Potter books, and gospel tracts that use the NIV. Anyone wearing headphones must be secretly listening to evil rock music. Anything password protected is pornography or (worse yet!) copies of old SFL posts until proven otherwise. Your secrets are only safe as long as they remain inside your own head.
The only person in fundyland who has the right to keep secrets is the pastor. And his mistress. And her husband.
And unfortunately you forgot murder.
I never had a problem with my parents in that respect, and so when I went to PCC it was much more of a shock than it might have been for others.
They cram 3-4 people into every room (and the rooms themselves were tiny as it was) and on top of that you had suite-mates (imagine, 8 girls sharing 1 bathroom). And they even stated that their reason was because it was hard to keep anything secret.
The doors had no locks, floor leaders could and did walk in randomly without knocking for “random checks” or any reason they felt like. And, it goes without saying at a Fundy U, they could go through all of your things without your knowledge or consent at any time and for any reason that they could make up. And this was not just a “I heard from a friend who heard from a friend…” thing either. One day after class, I walked into the lobby on my floor and found a girl fuming because ALL of her belongings had been pulled out of her room while she was gone and now she could only stand and watch while the FLs and the RM went through everything right there in the lobby.
Even outside the room, there was no privacy. Monitors were expected to listen in and snoop on conversations (especially if someone looked like they were trying to have a private conversation) and report anything that the school didn’t approve of. And if anyone dared complain, they used the standard “Why? Do you have something to hide?” against them.
Then we can go and snoop through the administators’ belongings and files? We can go to their houses and offices and snoop through everything? We can listen in on any conversations you have? No? Why? If you have nothing to hide, why should you protest? It is always so hypocritical how closely those administrators who did their best to take any and all privacy from students would guard their own privacy.