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Forcing Students to Wear Electronic Tracking Devices
![The 6 Dumbest Things Schools Are Doing in the Name of Safety]()
You know what's hard about running the school? Keeping track of all those freaking kids, most of whom don't even want to be there. Hell, look at what Mr. Rooney went through with Ferris Bueller.
With that in mind, two Houston, Texas, area schools started handing out radio frequency identification tracking tags to the students (at a district cost of $150,000) in the attempt to track the kids' movements on campus. The idea is to make it easier for administrators to make sure the students go to class (remember, state funding is tied to attendance).
Via abclocal.go.com
Naturally, the technology has some flaws. For one, the badges can be taken off or handed to another pupil, allowing the students to do whatever they want anyway.
Via abclocal.go.com
"Boy, there sure are a lot of kids hanging around the trash can."
For another, the system kind of straddles the line between overbearing and pointless, since the badges are of no help if, say, a student gets abducted or runs away (they only work within 100 feet of the building). So that's going to lead to some awkward conversations.
Administrator: Hello, Mrs. Smith. We're calling to let you know that our tracking system indicates your son left the building today.
Mrs. Smith: OK, so where the hell is he now?
Administrator: ...
Getty
Just 101 feet away, little Jimmy was mauled to death by wild animals.
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