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A public school district in Texas can require students to wear locator chips when they are on school property, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday in a case raising technology-driven privacy concerns among liberal and conservative groups alike.
This tells kids they are not responsible for their own actions. The computer chip allows the administration to keep an eye on them and they won't have to deal with the kids unless they transgress the rules.
The kids will be nothing but Clockwork Oranges and the school won't have to teach them a thing, only punish them when they step out of line.
Can someone explain the privacy issue here, because I honestly don't see it?
It is not easy to find students in large high schools like John Jay High School, which has 2,945 students. My son's last high school had almost 2,300 students, with three floors, and several portable trailers. While we can reasonably expect the majority of 14-18 year old students to be where they are supposed to be, a significant percentage of 14-18 year old students aren't where they are supposed to be for a million different reasons. I've also learned not to expect teachers to document attendance correctly or be able to identify my kids from the the other quiet kids in their classes. Half of my DD's teachers did not document her absence correctly, even though she was sick with the flu for two days. Three of my son's 9th grade teachers couldn't differentiate him from students named Nick, Tony, and Oscar, even though my son didn't know Oscar and none of the boys are of any blood relation.
When the teachers can't document attendance correctly or differentiate between their students, and nothing can be done to lighten their workloads so that they can do those tasks better, a student's right to NOT have his/her whereabouts within the school building sounds ridiculous and overblown.
While it's true that the cards have nothing to do with teaching and improving education, those cards do have everything to do with the funding and attendance. Large public schools with limited local funding, like Jay High School and my kids' former schools, rely heavily on state and federal funding, which is partially based on student attendance. The state and federal government will not pay for students who are not in school, so the schools lose funding for the next year's budget when students are incorrectly documented as absent. Schools cannot operate well without adequate funding. NISD district estimated that the better attendance tracking would bring in about $1.5 million in lost funding. Funding affords things like teacher pay, computers in the classroom, new copies of 1984 and Animal Farm to replace the ones that were damaged or lost the previous year, infrastructure repairs, chairs, and copy and toilet paper. All those little things that can help make classrooms run better.
And if teachers can't teach because students aren't attending... Why wouldn't we want their administrators to do everything possible to locate and redirect students to the classes that they're supposed to attend?
Can someone explain the privacy issue here, because I honestly don't see it?
I don't see it as a privacy issue.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jenshoes
Why wouldn't we want their administrators to do everything possible to locate and redirect students to the classes that they're supposed to attend?
(emphasis added)
Because the students have to take responsibility for their actions. A student aged 14-18 who should be in Algebra or in English, should be there. If they are absent they have to make up the work. If they don't have an excuse for being absent they get a detention or a suspension.
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OK for parking lots but not in my bedroom ! ~♥~
