There in the shadows where we cannot see clearly there are
dangers lurking; sounds like pulp fiction, “Only the Shadow knows”… Take for example the Northside Independent School District in rural Bexar County, Texas,
school administrators have implemented a program for all students “requiring
them to walk the halls with identification cards in their pockets that are
equipped with RFID microchips”.
“Backers of the program say the
move is well intentioned and will actually bring the school millions of dollars
in extra funding. Ghastly attendance rates in Bexar
County currently keeps the district
from earning around $175,000 a day in state assistance, reports KHOU News out
of San Antonio, TX. Speaking to that city’s Express-News,
district spokesman Pascual Gonzalez explains that the school wants “to
harness the power of (the) technology to make schools safer, know where our
students are all the time in a school, and increase revenue.”
This is Texas after all; I’m
surprised these folks don’t just staple a tag on each student’s ear lobe like
ranchers do with cattle, pigs and sheep.
Can you imagine having the school district track your every move; going
to the bathroom, standing at your locker talking to friends, sitting at a table
in the cafeteria while some office person keeps tabs on who you’re with and for
how long?
But it’s for their own
good; and besides, look how much money the district will save by being able to
account for each and every warm body. I
remember a quote, more of a warning, by C.S. Lewis regarding the damage done by
folks with good intentions.
“Of all tyrannies a tyranny exercised for
the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to
live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber
baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated;
but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for
they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” (emphasis
added)
“After Hernandez refused to wear an RFID chip, WND
reported that Deputy Superintendent Ray Galindo issued a statement to the
girl's parents: “We are simply asking your daughter to wear an ID badge as
every other student and adult on the Jay campus is asked to do.” If she is
allowed to forego the tracking now, the repercussions will be harsher than just
revoking voting rights for homecoming contests once the school makes
location-monitoring mandatory, he argued.
“I urge you to accept this solution so that
your child’s instructional program will not be affected. As we discussed, there
will be consequences for refusal to wear an ID card as we begin to move forward
with full implementation,” Galindo wrote.”
In the movie Shawshank Redemption, Morgan Freeman’s character, Red, had been institutionalized most of his life and had become accustomed to being watched over at all times. When Red got paroled he was placed in a menial job sacking groceries and during the course of the day he asked, “Permission to make water, Boss?” Has it come to that in our schools; each student’s activities being observed and recorded so some superintendent can justify receiving a fair share of the State’s money?
I still like my idea about stapling livestock ID cards to each student’s ear so school administrators can keep track of the heard, keep ‘em from stampeding in the halls when the bell sounds at the end of each class. If you see some kid hanging out at the 7/11 during school hours, a bright yellow tag hanging from his ear you can alert the prison guards; I mean, alert school officials that some of that money promised the district is being wasted on a Big Gulp and a bag of chips; after all, it’s for our own good…
This article has been cross posted to
The Moral Liberal, a publication whose banner reads, “Defending The
Judeo-Christian Ethic, Limited Government, & The American Constitution”.
2 comments:
Knowing what teenagers get up to when we were young and stupid, I'm not really interested in their cries for privacy. For me as a parent, I'm not keen on my child having a 'right' to be somewhere that I don't know of. At least not while they're living under my roof and living off me.
I don't see it as some sort of tyranny but I'm not keen on tracking chips and such and I really wonder if this is the only way to get kids to attend school. Don't the parents care, have they no power over their children anymore.
If my child was at a school with bad attendance rates, I would want to work with them on the problem, is it too hard for the parents and teachers to get together to outsmart a couple of these young rascals. I think these people are taking the lazy option.
Using the power of the state to force people to give up their rights is anathema, whether it's for the good of the children or their parents. I think Right Wing Theocrat is taking the lazy option - allowing the school to violate rights and treat children like cattle in the name of security and parent's "power".
If my child's school instituted rules like this it would be time for Home schooling.
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