Parents pay in advance, often over the internet, at the Deanes School in Benfleet to avoid issues linked with children having cash.
The schools said the system also helped it promote healthy eating.
Children can no longer buy sweets or fizzy drinks and the risk of losing their money is reduced, it added.
In addition, parents can get a report showing what their child has bought.
That is a very odd way of handling things, I mean I can understand parents having an interest in what their kids do, but surveillance like that is taking it a bit far.
I also read some columns on the Escapist today that were quite interesting and I can only recommend them:
Cat
20 Comments
That’s a bit excessive. When I had custody of one of my half-brothers, he attended the local elementary school. They tracked it by student ID. If they are concerned about kids remembering the ID, they could just as well used ID cards. The high school I went to in Virginia did that.
Exactly. When I went to school we used to have photo ID and they could just use a scanner like we do at work. Or something like it. I think fingerprints as a means of identification is far too much of a Big Brother/1984 state.
The irony is that where I work, I am the developer for the fingerprint identification systems. The difference is that ours are for use by law enforcement for processing inmates and government agencies that need to do background checks (such as for teachers).
This doesn’t apply to elementary schools, but for high school students, the bonus of a photo ID is that it works for getting the student discount at a lot of places.
Yeah, I can understand and I support that, after all a finger print is a lot more certain than some kind of photo ID that can be faked. So for certain personnel, police, security, airports and criminals I can understand it.
I’m just waiting for/dreading the day when we’ll no longer use credit cards or money and just leave our fingerprint everywhere…
Maybe that’s all they can do for the kids of Essex! Hehe!!
See, I’ve not looked at it from that point of view! Haha.
Funny. Our school is thinking of getting fingerprint scanners to make life easier for registering us and to get lunch since a) we only need to swipe and b) don’t have to remember our lunch cards.
Making “life easier” is not always a good thing. Responsibility is a part of life. If someone can’t remember a little card (just like an adult has to carry their driver’s license, etc), then there’s a problem.
See I’d refuse to have that done. It’s just so much surveillance. And what’s wrong with having a swipe card?
And I agree with you, there’s so much in life that needs to be remembered. School is a good way to learn those.
I don’t think it’s such a nice measure. By monitoring your kids all the time, you’re merely making them more dependent. Let them eat what they want for Christ’s sake, they’re kids and deserve to enjoy all the nice things when they eat them. When they’re over 40, they’ll become health conscious and not eat anything nice and hence their whole life will end without eating one good thing. And that’s cruel. Why do we have so many delicacies in the world when nobody’s gonna be allowed to eat them?
This is why I’ve always been against the use of surveillance’s camera’s in school. That’s like totally stealing somebody’s privacy. Basically you’re just stealing the carefree feeling children have. It’s like you’re making them adults and making them conscious of their habits from the day they’re born.
Security cameras on say the entrances I can understand, anywhere else I can’t.
And yeah, I guess I didn’t look at it from that point of view, but on the other hand you could argue that the earlier they get used to the way life is, the better.
Getting used to life is one thing. Doing this is like putting a kid in the school the day he/she is born. They’ve got to learn and experience some things on their own. You can’t expect them to cope up with everything when they’re that young when even adults buckle under that kind of pressure. I don’t think there’s any justification to that kind of a step.
Did anyone actually read the other two links?!
I did, only after your last comment though. But that counts, or doesn’t it?
i am too lethargic to go for any classes now :P ..
lets hope i can get it up myself..
Go to school. Seriously. Go. There’s a 99% chance you will regret not going later.
Do it!
Everyone in our class was against it, but then again, the school are thinking safety wise. Easier for them to keep track of the children etc.
Which they can do just as well with swipe cards.
And none of that was necessary when I went to school, yet they still kept track of us?
actually my last comment was meant for the typing speed post.. :P
Tsk tsk tsk.