"Every child in school numbered for life" . . . Times Online (U.K.) , , ,

[OneBlueSky]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/education/article3359931.ece

All 14-year-old children in England will have their personal details and exam results placed on an electronic database for life under a plan to be announced tomorrow.

Colleges and prospective employers will be able to access students’ records online to check on their qualifications. Under the terms of the scheme all children will keep their individual number throughout their adult lives, The Times has learnt. The database will include details of exclusions and expulsions.

Officials said last night that the introduction of the unique learner number (ULN)was not a step towards a national identity card. But it will be seen as the latest step in the Government’s broader efforts to computerise personal records.

Last night teachers’ leaders, parents’ organisations, opposition MPs and human rights campaigners questioned whether this Big Brother approach was necessary and said that it could compromise the personal security of millions of teenagers.

- more . . .

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/education/article3359931.ece

[annabanana]

1. OMG! There it is folks. . the "permanent record" of your childhhod nightmares.

(We didn't used to get a "permanent record" of any import until our credit reports had a pantload of data)

[acmavm]

2. This is so screwed up. Kids who didn't have their shit together or who were

bored in their early years (and may not have lived up to their potential) will be branded by these records. I was a mediocre grade earner. I never studied, I never did the homework, I got by on test grades. Later in life I earned a degree (with honors) as a paralegal. Dean's list consistently. If my grades from junior high were used as a qualification for getting anything, then I would have been screwed. I hated school when I was young. I only came to appreciate it when I got older.

The powers-that-be always have an angle, don't they???

[ixion]

3. it will also flag the above-average-intelligence kids who are bored with school

like yourself, and like me and like thousands of other kids...I was the same as you. I didn't give a rat's ass about school until college. Once I got interested in my classes, I kicked butt and took names.

[acmavm]

6. Yep. When I was a kid I had 'better' things to do than worry about

school. And here's an honest to God irony. If I did do homework, I did my boyfriend's. And all my boyfriends were always older than I was and in higher grades.

Didn't do my own though. What a schmuck.

[KharmaTrain]

4. Around Here They're Called "Transcripts"

So let's see here...so students in the UK will need the equivelent of a SSN? And your kids school records will be made available for universities and employers to look at? Well knock me over with a feather...we've been doing that here in one form or fashion for decades.

I'm sure this is a big deal in the UK, but seems like nothing here...maybe a UK DUer can explain how the system works...how does one get into college without them having access to your records? How do you prove your degree or GPA to get a better job...or is that not taken into consideration?

[acmavm]

7. Oh yeah, 'transcripts' are used here. And they're about as reliable

as proof of someone's character or intellect as georgie bush**s 'trust me'.

[liberal N proud]

5. So when a kid flunks his 8th grade Algebra quiz

Someone can use that against him when he wants to get a job at 33?

Twisted, sick and criminally insane.

[acmavm]

8. Absolutey true. Unless he's a well connected patrician-type

son or daughter of a rich man/woman.

[LiberalFighter]

9. How many times will the data be accessed illegally, tampered and/or downloaded?

Who would legally have access? When would they be given access?