Student in San Antonio Objects to Electronic Tag

Diane Ravitch's blog

by dianerav, 24/11/2012 A high school in San Antonio initiated a bizarre requirement this fall. Every student is expected to wear an electronic badge, presumably so the district knows how many students are in school and can track their movement. When a student objected on religious grounds to wearing the tag , the district suspended her. She is suing the district. The district claims it needs to follow every student so as to make sure it was getting all the state money that is tried to attendance. But there are genuine reasons to be concerned about breaches of civil liberties. This affair is but one more evidence of intrusive practices that technology makes possible. When we go online, someone somewhere is tracking whatever we do, whatever we purchase, which websites we visit, and this information is then sold to other companies. Our personal information is being marketed without our knowledge or permission. What is it that seems so objectionable about asking all students to wear a barcode? Well, to begin with, they are human beings, not products on a grocery shelf. People should not be treated as inventory. When I think about tracking people, I think of the anklets that people are required to wear by judges, because they might be a risk to flee the country or go into hiding. But students are not prisoners or suspects. This matter is reminiscent of the kerfuffle over the galvanic skin response bracelets, which students are supposed to wear so that evaluators can measure students' excitement or engagement and simultaneously (perhaps) evaluate the teachers' ability to get them excited or engaged. You have to wonder, first, who dreams up these ideas, and second, who reviews and approves them.