U.S. School District to Begin Microchipping Students

[Bocaj Claw]

We could cutie mark them all with a number on their wrists and attatch some sort of symbol to all their clothes...maybe a yellow star?

Then again, why stop there?

We could dress them all up in orange jumpsuits, shave their heads, and lobotomise them with ritalin. It might be a little Orwellian, but at least Airstrip One had order goddamnit!

why stop there even? We could suppress all their emotions with drugs, make them wear only white clothes, and replace names with numbers.

No good. At the very sight of a puppy all their emotions will return and they'll go crazy and shoot up the government. With guns. Because thats what people with emotions do. They shoot people.

[Baconsticks]

We could cutie mark them all with a number on their wrists and attatch some sort of symbol to all their clothes...maybe a yellow star?

Then again, why stop there?

We could dress them all up in orange jumpsuits, shave their heads, and lobotomise them with ritalin. It might be a little Orwellian, but at least Airstrip One had order goddamnit!

why stop there even? We could suppress all their emotions with drugs, make them wear only white clothes, and replace names with numbers.

No good. At the very sight of a puppy all their emotions will return and they'll go crazy and shoot up the government. With guns. Because thats what people with emotions do. They shoot people.

Who said we'd give them access to guns? or dogs?

[Mista_B]

We'd give them puppies with bees in their mouths so when they bark they chew bees at you.

[klimt]

what an incredibly pointless waste of time and money.

[Angstwolf]

Yes, let's spend money on microchipping school children instead of on fixing the horribly, horribly broken American education system. Sounds like a plan.

I hate the world.

[Quantheory]

I think my high school would have done this if they had had the money. It seems that in a lot of schools administration has become so resigned to constant attendance issues (and, in the case of my old school, smoking and weapons on premises), that they've made manipulating and policing student behavior the top or almost the top priority. Education wasn't even a priority at my high school, much less the priority, because they spent all their effort into making kids show up, preferably without knives.

There's a twofold problem I see here. One is that if you don't focus on accomplishing actual education, a lot of kids are less likely to show up, because they aren't doing much and because most teenagers learn what a waste of their time is before they learn how best to cope with that wasted time. The other is that the more policed kids feel, the more they are going to feel antagonistic and unhelpful towards the administration. If I brought up any staff except for actual teachers at my high school, the responses were always either sickeningly status quo or else were a proposal that someone should do something obscene to him/herself.

Edit: Why yes, I do know html.

Edit: Or BBCode, I do that too.

[Tarukai]

This is absolutely ridiculous. No school should ever have to go this far to keep track of their kids.

One problem with an experimental tracking system that's free and people can check: EVERYONE CAN CHECK IT. Unless they have A) Encryption and B) protection so very few people can actually access it, this is horribly unsafe.

Also, at my school, they're implementing an ID card system for the main door, meaning that you will need it to get in the school everyday. I'm so glad I'm graduating tomorrow!

This country is so damned PARANOID. Why can't we get past the problems of kids skipping school so that we can fix the actual system?

[nickspoon]

Because the pilot program is being provided to the school district at no cost, it did not require approval from the Rhode Island ethics commission.

I have this gas chamber and canisters of Cylon B here I will provide to the school district for no cost. No need to consult the ethics commission, right?

[rabid_fox]

Important consideration - how voluntary is the chipping? That changes everything.

[GeorgiaCoyote]

Yes, let's spend money on microchipping school children instead of on fixing the horribly, horribly broken American education system. Sounds like a plan.

I hate the world.

Yes the education system is in need of some repair of that there is no doubt. What also needs to happen is that parents need to be involved in their children's education and teach them to be respectful. There's too many parents nowadays that don't give a crap about what their kids do and could care less about their education. We've got too many folks in general with the Do-Whatever-The-Hell-You-Want mentality and don't worry bout the consequences. Accountability...it's not just something to hold teachers to, it's something to hold student and parents to as well.

As for your hate the world point, I'd have to say that some days I agree but for the most part, I just strongly dislike it.

[Tom Flapwell]

Also, at my school, they're implementing an ID card system for the main door, meaning that you will need it to get in the school everyday. I'm so glad I'm graduating tomorrow!

My high school started implementing such a system the day I entered it. Before long, they were very lax about IDs. At least they got the MEHTUL detectors working before long, so the first day's "free massage" (as a nearby perv called it) was not the norm.

This country is so damned PARANOID.

Ironic that you had objected to a deficit in security with the tracking device.

[Rooster]

Even if it is voluntary, it'll be the parents descision. How much that'll pants their kids up is up to them, but if my parents had shown that level of distrust in me as a youngster I'd probably still be pissed off with them now.

[Steve the Pocket]

"[This program is] a solution in search of a problem," Brown said.

RFID period is a solution in search of problems. Everything I've ever heard RFID could achieve has sounded virtually useless and just seems like an excuse to put more electronics in stuff. I think the people who created RFID are just desperate to get contracts with folks who, for the most part, know better (they must, because I heard of these things years ago and all these "amazing technologies" that I heard about that would use them still haven't happened) and are hard-selling it wherever they can.