Microchipping
It’s about this school in Rhode Island who has microchipped their student schoolbags using RFID. These are kid on some kind of lower-stage education. Don’t really know the age, but I guess it’s regular schoolkids-age in the US. They get lunch in school and their parents are allowed to check their attendance records and what they eat for lunch, so not too old, I guess.
Anyway. This pilot programme is about tracking the kids in and around campus and on the school bus using these chips. Why? So that the parents can have better control of where their lovelies are. And then there’s the school knowing where a kids backpack is, so they might be able to find the sweetie who skips class (unless mentioned sweetie «forgot» or hid his or her backpack somewhere).
The whole thing was funded by some company, so for some reason, the ethical people didn’t look at the case.
So, why am I telling you about this? I’m not an American. I’m not a parent. I don’t have any close relatives in primary schools in the US and especially not in Rhode Island. It ever so often happen that I realise I couldn’t care less about kids and what’s going on around then when you think politics-wise. However, cases like this might in some part of the future wander over to Europe and grow in a bigger scale so more scary people than parents can track the individual. But that isn’t really my main thought either.
Some of you guys know about my *uhm* past in certain christian circles. In these circles, as in all other parts of society, there are stories. These stories are mainly a symbol of something usually relating to God. This case reminded me of one of them. Not because of the God-aspect, but because of the actual story.
The story always comes from a parent. And it’s really about why humans have a free will and are able to sin (because a perfect God wouldn’t really be stupid enough to make imperfect people? So surely, God can’t exist, because there’s so many sins and bad stuff happening in the world?).
Well, put it this way: You can have a kid who’s programmed just right. He wakes up a while before school and eats breakfast and does his stuff before going on the bus. When he gets to school, he will attend all classes perfectly and only speak when spoken to and do his tasks and chores. When school is over, he gets on the bus and goes straight home and tells you he loves you, as you programmed him to.
Wouldn’t that be nice?
Or: You could have a kid who’s not programmed in any way. He may be a bit grumpy in the morning, but you’ll get him on the bus. In school he might not be absolutely perfect, but he’s generally a good kid and goes to the classes he’s supposed to. He might speak out of turn at times, or not do his tasks and chores properly all the time, but he’s among the best kid in his class. When school is done, he gets on the bus, and then he might get distracted by some pretty flowers in the ditch on the way home and decide to pick them because they are so pretty he wants to give them to his mum/dad. And then he gets home a tiny bit too late, but he tells you he’r really sorry and he picked these nice flowers for you because you’re the best mum/dad ever.
The chip is kinda like this. By allowing someone to put a tracking device on your child, you’re enabling a possible threat. «I will know when you get off the bus or if you skip school or if you even get on the bus, so don’t you dare lying to me». Isn’t childhood about learning how to make people trust you and how to trust people? Sure, you’ll have a better idea of where your kids are, but wouldn’t it be nicer to have a kid doing what they’re supposed to do and what you want them to do because they want to and not because they know you’ll know the moment they screw up?
In the christian story, God would rather have a human being who is capable of making their own choices rather than robots who do what they are supposed to do. Most parents I know would agree most of the time (by most of the time, I of course mean whenever their kid’s not being a brat/breaking things/something really negative).
Sure, if I had a kid, it would be nice always knowing where said kid is. And while I’m thinking about tracking technology it would also be nice always knowing where my boyfriend is, where my mates are (you know, in case I want to hang out), where my family is (especially certain family members) etc… When I get a job it might also be good always knowing where my clients and coworkers are. Because, you know, phone and e-mail simply isn’t enough.
My point is: I do not believe a tracking system such as these chips are the best way of letting the parents monitor the kids school experience. Hell, in my days, my parents would get an occasional letter from the teacher, a letter asking them if I wanted milk for my lunch and invitations to parents meetings, where all the other parents would come talk to my teachers and small meetings including my class teacher, my parents and me. That’s quite a lot just there, don’t you think? If I did tests, they would also get my results.
Now, this was in Norway and not the US, but I can find no reasons for this to be continent-specific. I mean, we’ve got coke, McDonalds and a bunch of US products and brands over here. And, besides, 1984 seems to come closer and closer every time I decide to actually read an article. Stop it, world, it’s not good for my brain.
