To Curb Truancy, Dallas Tries Electronic Monitoring 462
The New York Times is reporting that a school district in Texas is trying a new angle in combating truancy. Instead of punishing students with detention they are tagging them with electronic monitoring devices. "But the future of the Dallas program is uncertain. Mr. Pottinger's company, the Center for Criminal Justice Solutions, is seeking $365,000 from the county to expand the program beyond Bryan Adams. But the effort has met with political opposition after a state senator complained that ankle cuffs used in an earlier version were reminiscent of slave chains. Dave Leis, a spokesman for NovaTracker, which makes the system used in Dallas, said electronic monitoring did not have to be punitive. 'You can paint this thing as either Big Brother, or this is a device that connects you to a buddy who wants to keep you safe and help you graduate.'"
Re:I live in Dallas (Score:4, Informative)
I live in the Dallas area, although I wasn't born or raised here. I don't think this is a reason to be ashamed of Dallas, just the Dallas ISD. The crap that the DISD board and administration pulls never ceases to amaze me.
Re:Buddy? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:I live in Dallas (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Really... (Score:4, Informative)
Fortunately, Congress doesn't get to legislate Maxwell's equations, and homebrew GPS jammers [notserver.com] are within the reach of hardhackers.
I'm sure outlawing GPS jammers will prove as effective as outlawing guns and heroin has.
Re:Doublespeak? (Score:2, Informative)
Lots of these kids have 'rents who just can't pay attention to what their kids are doing, often 'cause their own lives are too messed up to even think about sorting out their kids. Find a study on truant kids-the usual risk factors boil down to socio-economics, which usual doesn't help with parenting.
Other parents just don't care if their kids are missing school-for whatever reason-according to the studies. Dept. of Ed table [ed.gov]
Re:Really... (Score:3, Informative)
To quote the end of 1984:
He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn
what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless
misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast!
Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all
right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won
the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.
Re:Or like an actual PARENT (Score:3, Informative)
Anyway, the reply I thought I made went along these lines: I do agree with the adage in principle. It's called discipline. It does not have to take the form of physical punishment but can we agree that discipline in general is a good thing? The gist of the adage is that teaching your kid how to behave early in life, when the consequences aren't so grave, will save him/her (and possibly a lot of other people) a good amount of grief.
I honestly think that's a pretty good principle.
=Smidge=
Re:Or like an actual PARENT (Score:1, Informative)
Technology, money and legislation can't replace parenting. This country is going to hell because nobody believes in being a good parent.
You didn't see 5 news stories a week about kids killing or nearly killing each other and adults in the 80's and before.
80% of people who are incarcerated came from a single parent home.
Think about it...
Hint: just earning the paycheck or paying your child support isn't enough.
This about sums it up (from http://www.hoover.org/publications/policyreview/3448276.html [hoover.org]):
"A free society needs people with consciences. The vast majority of people must obey the law voluntarily. If people don't conform themselves to the law, someone will either have to compel them to do so or protect the public when they do not. It costs a great deal of money to catch, convict, and incarcerate lawbreakers -- not to mention that the surveillance and monitoring of potential criminals tax everybody's freedom if habitual lawbreakers comprise too large a percentage of the population.
The basic self-control and reciprocity that a free society takes for granted do not develop automatically. Conscience development takes place in childhood. Children need to develop empathy so they will care whether they hurt someone or whether they treat others fairly. They need to develop self-control so they can follow through on these impulses and do the right thing even if it might benefit them to do otherwise.
All this development takes place inside the family. Children attach to the rest of the human race through their first relationships with their parents. They learn reciprocity, trust, and empathy from these primal relationships. Disrupting those foundational relations has a major negative impact on children as well as on the people around them. In particular, children of single parents -- or completely absent parents -- are more likely to commit crimes. "
If you are a paycheck parent you need to read this article or your kid will end up killing his classmates, on drugs or other bad places. You are responsible for your progeny and everything they do because you shape their behavior.
-AC