1. Can't the kids take off the jersey? It seems to me that taking off a jersey can't be as complicated as getting out of child safe doors, avoiding the teacher's ( and assistants) watchful gaze, and managing to get all the way out of the building.
2. Is it the parent's right to choose? If this becomes a nationalized program, people must realize that their right to make choices regarding their child's safety is jeopardized. The information being stored in public schools can be seen as a violation of privacy, and at what benefit?
3. Does it diminish the work of the teacher? There has been a lot of publicity about the quality of teaching in the United States. I think most would agree that there has been a decline in the education the teachers are providing. Offense range from major to minor, teachers not showing up to work, to teachers not engaging in their students. However, there is a point to be made that maybe the teachers don't have any decision making power anymore. If I were a teacher, I would wonder what my purpose was if I wasn't even to be trusted to keep a child in the room I presided over. The teacher's job is to educate, and teach the child academics and life skills. Not to hover over a computer screen making sure everyone is in their proper place.
4. What about bathrooms? This is really a minor point, but still one to be considered. Not all schools have restrooms inside each room. Will we have security guards and teachers chasing dots that have "escaped" only to find the child is using the restroom? Or on the way to the Principals office? The Nurse? Or simply is going home early?
5. Will the child want to learn? Or be forced to? Many children love school, or hate it. Some of the most successful schools are the ones where kids want to stay in class, and learn from their teacher. The idea of pinning them in the classroom like sheep gives me the chills. When school becomes a pen, the grass on the other side will seem much more attractive. Kids will always find a way to skip class, whether chipped or not.
Most of this is just my uninformed opinion, but they are points that need to be considered when thinking of the logistics and ethics of this plan. Maybe we should focus on improving the schools, not securing them. Maybe we should try to make the kids want to stay in class and learn, not force them too. Maybe we should give our teachers the chance to do their job, instead of slowly making them powerless adults in a classroom of kids. Maybe we should make our children want to learn, and think its worthwhile, instead of giving them a sense imprisonment.
Instead, we should try to make the grass in the pen sweet, instead of trying to enclose the pen with electrical wire, surveillance systems, and tall fences.
Kids, like sheep, will want the sweet grass on the outside more and more, the tighter and more restrictive their grazing ground, and school become.
Another thing to consider is the vaguely de-humanizing effect of the program. I'm not sure if the article merely reported it wrong, or if I read it wrong, but it sounded like the teachers are now teaching while watching the screen showing the dots, rather than the children themselves. When they become mere dots on a screen, it becomes easier to think of them as less than children. It's rather chilling to think of a possibility that children could be referred to by the color of their dot rather than by name during such classes.
ReplyDeleteAgain, I could just be mis-reading the article. But if that is the way of it, I for one am concerned.
Adorable analogy. :)I wondered about the parents' rights, too... maybe this will end up at the Supreme Court's feet one day.
ReplyDelete