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?
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?