NationStates Jolt Archive


kids treated as livestock...

Yeknomia
12-02-2005, 02:35
CALIFORNIA GRADE SCHOOL STUDENTS STUDENTS MADE TO WEAR TRACKING DEVICES
Associated presss
SUTTER, Calif. -- The only grades school in this rural town is requiring students to wear radio frequency identification badges that can track their every move. Some parents are outragedm fearing it will take away their childrens privacy.

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.

But few american scholl districts have embraced such a monitoring system, and civil libertarians hope to keep it that way.

"If the school doesnt stand up, then other schools might adopt it," Nicole Ozer, a representative of the American Civil Liberties Union warned shcool 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.

The system was imposed, without parental input, by the school as a way to simplify attendance-taking, and potentially reduce vandalism and improve student safety. Principal Earnie Graham hopes to eventually add bar codes to the existing ID's so that students can use them to pay for cafeteria meals and check out library books.

But some parents see a system that can monitor their childrens movements on campus as something straight out of Orwell.

"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 cant 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 th board and alerted the ACLU.

Graham, who also serves as the superintendent of the single-school district, told the parents that their children could be disciplined for boycotting the badges -- and that he doesnt understand what all their angst is about.

What are YOUR thoughts?
Super-power
12-02-2005, 02:36
Wow :eek:
Vangaardia
12-02-2005, 02:38
If true it is alarming to say the least I do not want to be treated like livestock.
Evil Arch Conservative
12-02-2005, 02:41
Graham, who also serves as the superintendent of the single-school district, told the parents that their children could be disciplined for boycotting the badges -- and that he doesnt understand what all their angst is about.

That guy must not get much reading done. I have a conjecture that expains why this particular school adopted the program first...
Neo-Anarchists
12-02-2005, 02:43
There's already a thread about this.
http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=396699
Roach-Busters
12-02-2005, 02:43
Creepy.
Ice Hockey Players
12-02-2005, 03:21
Good for this school. If they did this to adults I would be outraged, but I don't really give a damn about children's privacy. As far as I am concerned they have very few rights, and privacy is not among them.
The Burnsian Desert
12-02-2005, 03:26
Good for this school. If they did this to adults I would be outraged, but I don't really give a damn about children's privacy. As far as I am concerned they have very few rights, and privacy is not among them.

*represses flame*

I disagree. However crude, vile and inferior you find 'children', I happen to have a brother in the seventh grade who is very literate and trustworthy. How bad can a seventh grader be? Honestly.
Ice Hockey Players
12-02-2005, 03:48
*represses flame*

I disagree. However crude, vile and inferior you find 'children', I happen to have a brother in the seventh grade who is very literate and trustworthy. How bad can a seventh grader be? Honestly.

First off, I am sure your brother's a nice guy. My hatred of children does not apply to all children, though I prefer not to keep the company of children. I have always been this way. Even as a child I preferred the company of adults. This is not because of people like your brother. How bad can he be? He's probably harmless. How bad can some of his classmates be? I don't know.

Besides, in the real world, people are just inventory. They are commodities. They are just a number. School is a good time to learn that.
Colodia
12-02-2005, 03:50
Even more paranoid than me! :o


No wait, just as paranoid. Never mind.
OceanDrive
12-02-2005, 03:59
*represses flame*

However crude, vile and inferior you find 'children',....I would answer...I do NOT think they are crude, vile and inferior...

In fact I love my children...thats why I want to know where they are.

and thats why I want them to be at school and not at the mall...or at the pusher's rent-a-puss.
Slinao
12-02-2005, 04:02
*represses flame*

I disagree. However crude, vile and inferior you find 'children', I happen to have a brother in the seventh grade who is very literate and trustworthy. How bad can a seventh grader be? Honestly.


hard to say, in your brother's case maybe not bad at all, though there could be those that want to use the guise of innocense to their advantage. Also, what about protecting the children from abductions, it seems the tracking devices would protect them from turning up missing as well.

Also keeps young students from skipping classes, which starts often times in middle school range, and gets worse as the student gets older. A stronger watch on students could help reduce drug exchanges, and other illeagal activites as well as protect the students.

I see nothing wrong with the tracking devices, just like I see nothing wrong with metal detectors at school doors. I would rather know my child is safe and where they are supposed to be at school. Most minors get limited rights under the law anyway, so this in now way restricts their rights.
Ice Hockey Players
12-02-2005, 04:16
Even more paranoid than me! :o


No wait, just as paranoid. Never mind.

I wouldn't call it paranoid, just cynical.
Greedy Pig
12-02-2005, 04:18
If only the stupid kids just leave their handphones on all the time. No Problem!