Lunch Ladies = Big Brother?
Community Producer Stephanie is fairly new to our team, but she already knows how to push my buttons! This, of course, is exactly why she's so good at what she does. After my last rant about the school fundraisers, I think she knew she had an easy mark when she tipped me off to the conversations happening around this article about fingerprinting children at school to use biometric technology to speed up the lunch line. Say what? In order to get the kids moving through the line a bit faster, a school district in Colorado planned to use fingerprint scanning to store information about the kids' lunch accounts and remove the need for lunch tickets, ID numbers or cards. That is until some parents found out about the approach and cried foul, citing privacy concerns. Finger scanning is already in place in some schools in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and West Virginia, while other states have explicitly barred schools from collecting this information for such purposes. I'll just come right out and say that I'm not for the use of biometrics in schools to speed up the lunch lines. Sure, there are valid privacy concerns and I could easily veer off into "Well why don't we just MICROCHIP everyone", but there's an easier less-paranoid argument to be made. And that's simply that I feel the expense, implementation and upkeep of a finger scan system is an overreaction to a relatively simple problem. So I was all set to get my rant on when I realized ... I don't even have to: our iVillage community is already on the case!
I imagine iVillage member jagl1 on the In the News message board speaks for many, saying "I am against this whole using biometrics for identifying minor children, with the exception of police departments. NO ONE should be trusted with this kind of unique information." She then points out (very astutely I might add): "How many times have I heard about some government entity having its a laptop swiped? No thank you. ... Do I have a better idea? What's wrong with ID cards? If the ID card is lost, a new ID card and # should be issued." Exactly!
While I was busy nodding along with jagl1's comments, along comes my2craigs who pretty much took the rest of the words out of my mouth with this comment: "There are a lot of other ways to speed up a lunch line." Indeed -- like high-speed conveyor belts and only serving bread and water, for starters. Ok maybe not, but she goes on to put her finger on (ahem) what is probably the real issue here: "Maybe the problem is with too short a lunch period. Come on..20 minutes?? That's just crazy. Are we so desperate for class time to try to cram more info into children or give them a standardized test that we can't give them enough time to eat or play or just have some down time?" Oh don't even get me started, my2craigs ... don't even get me started!
There's also been some talk about the issue of fingerprinting on the November 2006 Ginger Snaps playgroup. flmanatee23 is somewhat torn about this issue: "At first I was all for it, this just seemed like a great piece of advancement schools should be utilizing… then I started to think about the future of identification and of course identification theft…and my other side isn’t so sure anymore. While as a school teacher I am all for adding valuable time to lunch lol, I am not sure if I would want the school board keeping such sensitive records."
So what do you think? Is fingerprint scanning a great idea to keep the lines moving and store kids' info at school or is it one step closer to total government control? Or maybe somewhere in the less extreme middle? How does your child's school handle lunchtime? Do you feel they get enough time to eat their lunch? Of course if your school district is already using this technology, I'm especially interested in hearing from you! Look, I'm not against using technology to improve our lives and make things more efficient, but I say let's hold off on applying it to the school lunch line until we all get our flying cars. Who's with me?
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Be careful!
Using unstored fingerprints to help speed up a lunch line is one thing but the unchecked recording of citizens prints is another.
While the use of biometrics to improve security and make life a bit easier seems innocuous enough there are other factors to take into account.
· Governments obsessed with security by one means or another
· A biometric industry thriving on this obsession.
· Biometric technology that doesn't deliver what it claims.
· The human element that later on sees unauthorised uses for stored biometric information.
My own daughterâs experiences over 10 years should make us all cautious and warn us to ensure that before any biometric information is given for storage that we are satisfied misuse will not occur.
http://www.shirleymckie.com/
I am not sure what anyone can do with a fingerprint scan. An account number on a card - sure that can be used against you. But if you had my fingerprint - what could you do with it? I like the security it provides.
I don't think it's necessary to fingerprint our children just for them to get a simple meal at lunch time. Why do people think this will be quicker?? Have you seen the new systems at Disney World? The lines have never been longer with thier "bone density" scans-- no one understands how to use them! Why do we have to subject little kids to this....what is wrong with an ID card? I completely agree with making the lunches longer. What good to kids get just sitting in a classroom all day and taking notes? Yes, kids need a proper education. But, first and foremost, the best education is going to be what they experience outside the classroom-- with friends, classmates, playgroups, extra curricular activities, and family.
20 minute lunch periods? What has our education system crumbled to? No wonder why cases of ADD & ADHD have sky-rocketted, you need superhuman strength to be attentive during a day when you are allowed only 20 minute lunches. Here, in the corporate world, I have more time to step away from my desk than an energetic elementary student? Not Fair and my children will NOT be attending a school with such little freedom.
Speeding up the lunch line..Children REBEL and take your time!
What about extending the school day? If our education system is so adamant about having so much information crammed into one day, lunch hour should not be the subject to suffer. What working parent would object to a 9-5 school day WITH an hour long lunch period!
Or maybe the education system should just relax and acknowledge that it is more than just academics that make up an education.
Fingerprints...give me a break.
My daughters school uses 4-5 digit PIN numbers. They quickly had them memorized and type their PIN in to pay for their lunches out of the account I deposit money into. I just don't see how a costly fingerprint scanner would be better or faster?!
I'm all for technology too. If there's a way for the children's information to be secure, I'll support the fingerprint scanning. Otherwise, I'd rather the kids have an ID, a PIN, or yes... a longer lunch period.
I understand the concerns about fingerprinting students for faster service in the lunchline. I am the cashier for my local highschool. The remedies that are seemly overlooked here, are to hired another cashier. Wow! Im a genius.Or,,,allow more time to eat! Wow! another ingenius idea. Or,,have a seperate line for the Alacart items to be sold, making it easier for the full lunch purchasers to be checked out. As a lunchlady, my goals are to prepare good,nutritious, appealing food and try to serve it to the children in a timely manner. I've noticed in my 13 yrs of working as a Lunchlady that it isnt the ones who are buying full meals that are slow in line to pay for it. The ones who are buying an item or two to go with their "brought from home" lunch are the ones crowding the line. That is the case at my school.
Dont bring anymore technology to the lunchroom. We have become dependant on them enough. When they crash, we are practically crippled. Talking about a line that slow moving....!
one comment or question really... SHOULDN'T WE BE MORE CONCERNED ABOUT WHAT OUR CHILDREN ARE LEARNING IN SCHOOL? and not how we get them through the lunch line faster??
add ten minutes at the end of the day. instead of 3:05 it's 3:15 when they get out of class. Release students by classrooms, more time in class, less time in line. It's not rocket science. DEAR GOD! WORRY ABOUT TEST SCORES!
I can appreciate the challenge in serving hundreds of children in such a short time. However, I think students should continue paying with money or with a pre-paid account card. This enables students to practice/learn money skills needed in the real world. As a first grader, I remember feeling so grown up when I handed the lunch lady my 50 cents from my change purse. Maybe schools with lunchtime management issues could break lunchtime into more shifts so that less students come through the lunch line all at one time.
wots th stry everyone out der wbxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx