Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Physical World Connection Coming To Schools?


The fingerprint is a physical world hyperlink, and when a fingerprint is scanned and connected to the Internet, that is Physical World Connection.

Time has a story about schools starting to fingerprint kids and the benefits of this.

Lots of controversy surrounds the idea of fingerprinting kids in school, but I think the benefits clearly outweigh the privacy issues.

Linda Stoll, head of food programs at the Boulder Valley, Colo., school district discovered that many students, especially kindergarteners, can't remember their six-digit ID number, which they're required to type into keypads at the end of lunch lines.

She then found out that there was technology that would allow a scanner to identify a kid qualified for lunch with the swipe of a finger, moving him or her quickly along. It would help kids who regularly forget their lunch money, and it would potentially remove some of the stigma faced by children who receive special tickets for free or reduced lunch. She proposed the idea, believing it would be the perfect solution.

fingerprint scan

Would you let your kids get fingerprinted?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would prefer they learn to memorize a 6 digit number. Even a local phone number is only 7 digits. Use it (your memory) or lose it.

Brad said...

For goodness sakes! Why do kids need a 6 digit number to get their lunch! Is it to prohibit rouge kids from wandering in from the street! Hey, if a kid needs a lunch, give it to them and put the money that paid for that technology into nutritious meals for the children.

Anonymous said...

It's far too easy for identity theft. Plus I don't want to be wearing gloves all the damn time.