Some pupils of Hungerhill School in Doncaster have an addition to their school uniform. It is an RFID (radio frequency identification) microchip as part of their school attire. These are chips that, for example, retailers use to track products through their distribution system and within the stores. In this case, what is being tracked are students:

“Students at a secondary school in South Yorkshire are being tracked by microchips sewn in their uniforms as part of a trial. The radio frequency identification system monitors pupils’ movements, and automatically logs their attendance on the teacher’s computer. It can also alert teachers if a student is likely to misbehave.”

link: Track your kid through microchips in uniform

Besides the implications on privacy, it just seems so depersonalized to track the moment to moment activities of each student. Any activity is recorded as a entry in a data base. Whatever happened to teachers knowing their pupils and trusting students to do ‘the right thing’? This may be technology in action and the next wave - but it is also a bit sad.

Catherine Forsythe
Director of Operations
FlyingHamster: http://flyinghamster.com/

Tags: rfid, tracking, schools, privacy, security, data base, depersonalization