CA School Launches RFID Chips for Pre-Schoolers Through Funded Grants

A California school in Richmond spent $50,000 of their $160,000 technology grant, thus far, on RFID chips (radio-frequency identification data) for preschoolers involved in the Head Start program.

Karen Mitchoff, spokesperson of the Contra Costa County Employment and Human Services which overseas the Head Start program in Richmond, suggests the use in RFID chips on preschoolers would "assist a teacher's time in teaching" when it comes to head count or to make sure the child is on the site.

How many preschoolers skip class? Then the obvious, an old fashioned head count would solve that problem. It would have taken half the amount of money to hire a hall monitoring human. But remember, it was a technology grant. Classroom computers? Ebooks?

Head Start is a national program promoting school readiness by enhancing the social and cognitive development as described on the main government website. How does RFID chips tie into social and cognitive?

If anything a child could feel "psychologically" monitored while taking a trip to the bathroom or potentially lose a sense of security sporting around an RFID chip. That is if a parent taught a child at an even younger age some form of independence. We now turn to the opposing side of this preschool RFID controvery.

Nicole Ozer of ACLU of Northern California does not agree with the concept of tracking preschoolers with chips. Ozer claims microchiping preschoolers with "extremely powerful RFID chips" can only be defined as "a very bad idea". It deems to create privacy issues along with other concerns. However, Mitchoff responded that no child's chip holds specific information, only the child's name. Which is the only information a perverted RFID hacker needs.

RFID readers are expected to be an internet hacker find in the future. And as you will find people have crafter readers from scratch thanks to Ebay and other web shopping areas. Google the search, it's already turning into frenzy. RFID chips can be tracked from long distances and be read from the length of a football field. The chips themselves can be manipulated or duplicated.

Was it the government's idea? Mitchoff gives Head Start credit in getting the RFID chip rolling. Head Start was created by U.S. President Johnson in 1965 and are federally funded.

Where are RFID chips placed on these CA preschoolers?

A preschooler's RFID chip will be placed inside of a pocket of a sweater the school hands out in the morning and takes back before each student leaves. Mitchoff states that each child is given a jersey so that no one becomes jealous. Meaning, Head Start just enforced a backdoor dress code. Wearing a chip on the outside is safer than the alternative. According to Associated Press, as seen through Medical News Today, inserted RFID chips have been found to cause cancer in animals raising a red flag for human injections.

It doesn't matter if RFID chips were used to monitor prisoners, cattle, and store merchandise. It might now. The RFID chip, your number is coming?

I'm not going to beat around the Bush, George is no longer an active president and Barack Obama is. It doesn't appear as if the White House objects this idea since RFID chips (registry) since it's an embedded plan within the healthcare bill's H.R. 3200 (Wikipedia / Section 2521).

Let's look at the preschool chip situation from a child's point of view.

I asked 10-year-old John Doe (name protected) if his teacher ever made the class wear a GPS system on belts how did he feel about that. His response?

"That's dumb. She can see us in the room." Smart kid.

I then asked 17-year-old Ron Doe (name protected) if his school ever made students wear chips what did he think about it. His response?

"I'm not a test subject. But I'm a Senior, it wouldn't matter." After that he asked me why I asked I told him preschool children in one California school are now using chips. He said it should be illegal then with a Nixon voice said (which made me crack up laughing) "When the President does it, it's not illegal."

I then asked "Ron" why he said "test subject" and his response was that since no other school is doing it yet, and they may be the first, it sounded to him as if they were testing out if the chips would work to be a good idea or not.

And there you have it. "That's dumb" and "I'm not a test subject."

Do you agree that these funds are being used appropriately or do you agree with the opposing side in the Democracy Now YouTube story?

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Source(s):
Head Start
Medical News Today
Wikipedia
Democracy Now / Youtube
(accessed September 30, 2010)