School or Big Brother??

[fish_doc]

In Califorina

Parents Protest Student Computer ID Tags

Brittan Elementary School has new ID badges. Visible identification in schools is not a new concept but these badges are equipped with radio tracking transmitters. Many parents see this as an attack on basic liberties.

The badges introduced at Brittan Elementary School on Jan. 18 rely on the same radio frequency and scanner technology that companies use to track livestock and product inventory. Similar devices have recently been used to monitor youngsters in some parts of Japan.
...
"There is a way to make kids safer without making them feel like a piece of inventory," said Michael Cantrall, one of several angry parents who complained. "Are we trying to bring them up with respect and trust, or tell them that you can't trust anyone, you are always going to be monitored, and someone is always going to be watching you?"

Cantrall said he told his children, in the 5th and 7th grades, not to wear the badges. He also filed a protest letter with the board and alerted the ACLU.
Earnie Graham is both the Principal who implemented the tracking system and the superintendent of the single-school district. He doesn't understand what all the fuss is about.

"Sometimes when you are on the cutting edge, you get caught," Graham said, recounting the angry phone calls and notes he has received from parents.
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Graham dismisses each objection, arguing that the devices do not emit any cancer-causing radioactivity, and that for now, they merely confirm that each child is in his or her classroom, rather than track them around the school like a global-positioning device. The 15-digit ID number that confirms attendance is encrypted, he said, and not linked to other personal information such as an address or telephone number.

What's more, he says that it is within his power to set rules that promote a positive school environment: If he thinks ID badges will improve things, he says, then badges there will be.

"You know what it comes down to? I believe junior high students want to be stylish. This is not stylish," he said.


Absolutely and completely clueless, or is there something else at work here? InCom Corp., the company that manufactures the tracking system, gave the school several thousand dollars to install it. They plan to use the school as an example of the system and will pay royalties to Brittan if the product starts selling.

The ACLU is lending support to the protesting parents.

"If this school doesn't stand up, then other schools might adopt it," Nicole Ozer, a representative of the American Civil Liberties Union, warned school board members at a meeting Tuesday night. "You might be a small community, but you are one of the first communities to use this technology."
So to recap there is a system in place that monitors when students are in the classroom. We had one of these when I was in school - we called it a teacher. The principal/superintendent implemented the system after the company involved offered thousands of dollars plus future royalties. We what this was back in the day but we didn't have very much of it - we called it graft. The principal/superintendent implemented the system without feedback and against opposition and says essentially that what he wants, he gets, period. We didn't have this at all in my school but we studied it in History and Poli-Sci - it's called Tyranny. Lastly, the system has future capability to live track students anywhere they go, no matter what they are doing, with no recourse of avoidance and punishment promised for non-cooperation. We didn't have this either but we studied it in Literature class - it was called Big Brother.


link to newssite

[fishfreaks]

glad i dont go there! thats insane!

[Lexus]

That is absolute bullS***, excuse my language... they have no right whatsoever to submit students to that.

Teachers and principles should take more responsibilty in finding their students and not using the lazy way. It alienates students rights as Americans, and in general as people. This is what we do to criminals not stidents. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[hawkjm73]

When I was still in High School, and still now that I'm almost through college, the mentality people had towards the young drives me up the wall. We find that students do the same stupid stuff that all kids have done for all time. But somehow, pplaying a prank has become unforgivable nowadays. So, let's throw all the civil liberties out the window. After all, they're minors, they don't count. Just what do these administrators think is going to happen when these kids grow up and are responsible for them in their old age. They're going to take the same liberties away. After all, if it was okay to do to them, its okay for them to do it to others. And remember, many of these high schoolers are already in the work force and paying taxes. Even so, they have absolutly no say in what happens to them. Did we forget the Boston Tea Party? We, as a nation, were outaged that we were being taxed without a say in things, yet now we force our youth to live under the same conditions. Okay, end of rant.