California School Keeps Track of Children Electronically

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California School Keeps Track of Children Electronically
California Screamin'
We don't need no steenkin' badges!
What would I do without California? The Golden State never fails to provide me with great material to write about...
Today's first "golden" nugget: Electronic tracking of school children!
According to CBSNews.com and other sources, the only elementary school in the rural town of Sutter, California has implemented a decidedly Orwellian policy toward their young charges - they've forced the kids to wear radio-tracking badges at all times while on school property. The new system uses the exact same technology currently used to keep track of livestock and curb thefts of retail goods.
Claiming the need to monitor kids for their own safety, plus a desire to reduce vandalism and ease attendance-taking, Principal Earnie Graham (conveniently, also the Superintendent of the single-school district) is fiercely defending the policy over the objections of some parents, the CBS article maintains. Despite these concerns, Graham has threatened disciplinary action against any children boycotting the badges.
A major fight is brewing over this. Not all of Sutter's parents are against the devices, but at least one has filed a formal protest and instructed his children not to wear them - he's also alerted the privacy-watchdog American Civil Liberties Union, who immediately sent a representative to speak before the school board.
This time at least, I agree with the ACLU. Here's why: Children aren't retail inventory or livestock - they're developing humans who need to learn about character and integrity via things like trust, shame, pride and consequence. These ends aren't served by constant monitoring. Think about it: If kids avoid doing the wrong things only because they're under constant surveillance and risk being found out, that's nothing more than a conditioned response. A bunch of game playing, basically.
However, our goal as both a society and as a nation of parents should be to raise kids that don't do what's wrong - but for the right reasons. Specifically, because they KNOW it's the wrong thing, and they have been raised to have the inner "sand" to resist such temptations. Remember, people don't develop good character by regulating what they do when everyone's looking...
Only by controlling what they do when no one's looking.
The Govern-ator's message to kids: Do as I say, not as I do
Speaking of the well being of west-coast school children, California Governor Ahnuld Schwarzenegger aims to terminate childhood obesity - at least in his home state.
A worthy goal, inarguably. But just HOW does he plan to do this, you're asking?
For starters, he proposes banning "junk food" in Golden State schools. According to a recent Associated Press story, the muscular politician has thrown the considerable heft of his support behind new legislation that would, among other things, replace the snack foods now available in schools with healthier options - specifically fruits and vegetables (possible red flags, yes, but better than candy).
In the past, I've written about how various individual school districts - including some in New York and Philadelphia - have made progress toward reducing junk foods on campus. Perhaps California will become the first to implement such changes statewide. I'm just fearful that instead of replacing traditional cafeteria junk-fare like pizza and mac-and-cheese with truly healthy selections like grass-fed beef, whole milk and meat-and-egg quiches, California kids will end up choosing from a bunch of nutrition-less soy-burgers, vegetarian chili, and sugary fruit cups.
As always when it comes to politicians stumping for their plans, details on the Gov's proposal were pretty slim pickings. But among those things on the "banned" list were soft drinks - a positive step no matter how you slice it. Now if only they'd eliminate vending machines altogether, then we might have something...
And we'd REALLY have something if kids would heed Arnold's "eat healthy" message without being influenced by his steroids-and-iron-pumping real life example.
Pumping only the truth - wearing only a "badge" of honor,
William Campbell Douglass II, MD

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