The BBC posted a story Nov. 23 about a girl, Andrea Hernandez, being expelled from a Texan school for refusing to wear a tracking device.
You heard right.
A chip is put into the ID tags of students at Northside Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas. The children can be located at any time in school with this technology.
I read the first paragraph and was already angry. Are you kidding me, Texas? What happened to all that liberty stuff? The young woman’s last name is Hernandez, so maybe it’s part of a new
initiative to track Hispanics in the Lone Star State.
Hernandez and her parents believe the chip corresponds to the biblical “Mark of the Beast” in the Book of Revelation. They are suing the district over its attempted expulsion of their daughter from school.
Evangelical Christians and the American Civil Liberties Union are up in arms over this. You don’t see that combo every day. I see less “Revelation” and more “1984,” to be honest.
Let’s break this insanity down. In Texas, funding is determined by daily attendance. The chips supposedly make counts more accurate. Of course there’s no way a kid could give her ID to a friend to take to school while she stays at home playing “Call of Duty.”
Certainly not.
I imagine some parents would actually want their kids tracked 24/7. You know the kind, the ones that demand access to your Facebook, don’t let you stay out past 8 p.m. and will probably end up in a nursing home with no visitors. They’re totally into this scholastic fascism.
Well I’m sorry to say this, but a sex fiend or organ thief can just take the ID off and throw little Timmy in the back of the van while the principal is still reading “Juggs” in his office.
According to The Kansas City Star, Texas cut state funding of schools by $5 billion dollars last year. Northside ISD lost $61.5 million in funding. The IDs cost $261,000 to buy and might recoup $1.7 million in funding. So like the cretinism caused from No Child Left Behind, we have an equally dumb situation. What students need is real funding, not government stalking.
How is this going to affect students’ perception of society? Is it OK to be monitored all the time? Maybe we should force college students to wear these — they get public funding. Why not the teachers and administrators as well? Of course, adults can refuse these things. If you wanted you could destroy your cellphone and not go online. You will survive. These students have no choice in the matter.
Hernandez was threatened with the mutilation of her academic record to enforce this disgusting policy. She is apparently a gifted student that will probably go on to college. This would tarnish her record. Transferring to a different, possibly inferior school district miles away would strain her.
She has stood up to extortion not just for herself but everyone.
We have rule of law in this country. We do in fact have principals.
Just because it’s likely to happen doesn’t make it OK. Violence is common and everyone is subject to it, so should I be able to bash in your head because it’s easy for me to do it? But maybe Northside ISD is right, and kids can be treated like goats in a pasture. Let freedom ring, right?
