School to fingerprint students to ‘monitor their diets’

A school is implementing a biometric system to better track what students are eating each day.

The Express & Star reports students at Redhill School in Stourbridge, England will be fingerprinted in an attempt to reduce lunch lines and “monitor pupils’ diets.”

The system requires pupils to press a finger against a machine which converts the print into biometric data.

This can then be used to identify individual pupils accounts.

School to fingerprint students to ‘monitor their diets’

Wow, just wow. There's not much to say about this but it has been obvious for years that many things like this will be implemented because of "convenience." What are they going to do, suspend a kid if he's eating a few extra donuts at lunch? Why are schools even thinking about going this far? If they want to add Snapple instead of pop or add more veggies to the lunch menu that's fine, but do they really need to tack what kids are eating? Here's more from the article.

Headteacher Stephen Dunster wrote to parents, “We are aiming to have a cashless system throughout the school. The catering system is better for parents because they don’t have to provide children with lunch money every morning. From our perspective it is far more efficient as it reduces waiting times.

“We will also be able to monitor what children are buying to make sure they are eating a healthy diet.”

Some American schools have attempted to implement palm scanners for similar purposes, but were met with parent anger or technological problems.

Washington’s Puyallup School District spent $38,695 on devices that would map the veins in a student’s palm, and then use that data as a school lunch account identifier.

eagnews.org...

I don't see the big deal about this.

Its no different from having a student ID card with a unique number on it. Instead of spending money on new cards every year, and replacement cards when they are lost or damaged, using a fingerprint is the next best thing to a unique ID.

As for tracking their diet, I don't see the harm in gaining info that could better assist the student's health in the future.

On the surface, when you frequent a conspiracy forum, it all seems like a bad idea because you have a specific train of thought. Once you get past that initial shock factor of using fingerprints (which is really convenient) it doesn't seem much different from using a student ID card.

Regards,
Devil's advocate

"Why are schools even thinking about going this far?"

My opinion is that they will push their luck as far as they can to indoctrinate this new generation of sheep.

What kid doesn't think tech like this is cool and makes things faster and easier?
They will take to it with smiles on their faces and most of them will be too ignorant (due to age) to question it.

Look around you, the world is already full of morons lacking basic knowledge and common sense, just wait till the next generation comes of age!
I shudder at the thought.

Many kids today can't even do basic math without a laptop, cell phone or calculator. I won't even get into the grammar issues on todays society.

Just so I don't get flamed cause someone takes offense, I'm not saying everyone in the wold is a moron, but you can't deny that a very great portion of us are.

After a twelve hour day at work doing construction with no breakfast or lunch, just coffee, I could have gone in there and wore out that computer chip and give the computer a heart attack. Just think of what the football team would do to their system. A bunch of teenage boys growing need a lot of food. If they don't get it they will be dumb as a box of rocks. They need lots of proteins.

I don't think the people running the nutrition agencies in this country know much about teenagers, their kids are wimps. Their bodies have lots of problems from going through the growth spurt with not enough food. That growth spurt is full of cell division.

Wow, I hope parents put a stop to it. What's next, use DNA to monitor which kids do their homework? Ridiculous.

Conditioning children that being scanned and barcoded is normal everyday thing.

They're trying to use one reason to extend an agenda in another area. Also using it to refine their prison-esque tracking technology.

Do parents get any say in this? They cannot refuse?

really...far out...home schooling is looking better and better everyday

If everyone would pull their kids from this school then it would lose funding and the next idiots who run the school would know better, but the sheep just keep going right along with everything they are told to do. Real change is needed. Everyone should stay home for 3 months and buy nothing and let the whole system crash to hell.

originally posted by: WeAre0ne
I don't see the big deal about this.

Its no different from having a student ID card with a unique number on it. Instead of spending money on new cards every year, and replacement cards when they are lost or damaged, using a fingerprint is the next best thing to a unique ID.

As for tracking their diet, I don't see the harm in gaining info that could better assist the student's health in the future.

On the surface, when you frequent a conspiracy forum, it all seems like a bad idea because you have a specific train of thought. Once you get past that initial shock factor of using fingerprints (which is really convenient) it doesn't seem much different from using a student ID card.

Regards,
Devil's advocate

Big deal? They are taking fingerprints of your child without having committed a crime, storing those prints.

Big deal? This is human tracking like tracking of cattle.

Big deal? Let's see what happens if a child refuses to bow down.

Big deal? Where are those prints stored and who has access?

Big deal? MINORS!

Big Deal? We are the parents, not the Govt.

Big Deal? Social experiments by big food Corp and the Govt. who is paid by them is being pushed onto our kids.

Get out of our house, our bedrooms and our fridge...That's the BIG DEAL!

So many more BIG DEAL issues but it's not necessary because most get it even if you don't.

Peace

a reply to: neoholographic

Some company hopes to make a killing on this... and is lobbying hard. Doesn't matter if it works or is useful. Just that there is public money to go into corporate hands.

Also, before someone says that the fingerprints will ONLY be held by the school or some such reasoning, don't forget about Google and countless other companies not sharing information.
We all know how that turned out.

Even if they pass laws to protect the biometric information it would be just a matter of time before the Government circumvents the law somehow to get their grubby claws on it.
The tried and true method would be Executive Order, but we all know that.


@Jude11
Pretty much hit every nail on the head there!

originally posted by: WeAre0ne
I don't see the big deal about this.

Its no different from having a student ID card with a unique number on it. Instead of spending money on new cards every year, and replacement cards when they are lost or damaged, using a fingerprint is the next best thing to a unique ID.

As for tracking their diet, I don't see the harm in gaining info that could better assist the student's health in the future.

On the surface, when you frequent a conspiracy forum, it all seems like a bad idea because you have a specific train of thought. Once you get past that initial shock factor of using fingerprints (which is really convenient) it doesn't seem much different from using a student ID card.

Regards,
Devil's advocate

I'll make a more polite rebuttal than above.
No, there is nothing wrong with wanting to track a student's diet per se, and that is not the issue. To be frank, if a school wanted to do this, it would be quite easy and does not need a fingerprint to do so. As you noted, an ID card could be used with a unique identification number and pin.

The issue in itself is the fact the school wants a child's biometric data, fingerprints, to have access to lunch. As one of the parents noted ... “If the school district needs my signature in order to obtain my daughter’s photograph and use that photograph in publication because of a privacy issue, then I believe I should have to sign an authorization to use my child’s identity … for them to do that,” said parent Christina Allen". That is also not to say, given this is in the U.K., what are the chances this database will be shared with law enforcement? As eluded previously, where and how is this database stored? How secure is it?

And yes, it most definitely would give a young child, even an older one who goes along with the crowd, to enter into a dangerous routine of, I'll give my fingerprints, I'll give my palm print, I'll give my retina scan, I'll give my DNA to have access to said product.

On the surface, many things that do not seem conspiratorial are very much so in the hands of the wrong person or group, not even that, with the possibility of it ending up therein.

The school cannot enforce this.... Cashless system, Yeh right!

a reply to: jude11

You're reply is completely expected. Your reaction is a predictable one, since you are a normal fearful conspiracy theorist.

It's funny to watch your simple mind jump from "fingerprints" to "criminal" in a single bound when you say "They are taking fingerprints of your child without having committed a crime, storing those prints.". Your mind is so simplistic and stuck in an old paradigm that you can't separate fingerprints and criminal activity. As if fingerprints are something only used for criminals.

Fingerprints are just another way to identify someone. We have many ways to identify people. Drivers license, ID cards, license plates, birth certificates, a first and last name, and pictures of their face. Our minds identify people every day automatically when we look at someones face. Computers can identify faces too, but its too complex a system. So we use another easier method, and that is usually ID cards. A simple magnetic strip with your ID on it that you swipe. But why waste money making these magnetic ID cards, when you can just scan a fingerprint? Why are you not scared of ID cards? Whats the big difference between that and a fingerprint? Or even facial recognition? Nothing.. there is no difference. Except a fingerprint cant be lost or stolen.

Your irrational fear is controlling your life.

Don't fear data that can help us all.

Tracking like cattle? More like scientific data to help improve human life.
Who cares where the fingerprints are stored and who has access? They are just fingerprints, which pretty much just translate to random numbers in a computer. They don't tell a persons entire life story, or invade privacy.

Someone can take a picture of your child and use that to identify them, why are you not scared of cameras? Cameras are no different from fingerprint scanners, except they take pictures of your entire body, and not just some wrinkles on your finger.

Refuses to bow down to what? Taking a picture of their finger? They will probably just continue to swipe their student ID, and life will move on.

You need to work on your irrational fears.

a reply to: neoholographic

All I can say is, I skipped lunch entirely back in high school, or I would pack my own; You can't track what isn't bought in the system, unless they are requiring blood samples.

Plus, this is a little extreme for diet purposes - I think they will find what everyone already knows (in that kids will not eat healthy at school, unless they were raised to). I don't need biometric data to tell you that.

-fossilera

a reply to: fossilera
I remember reading somewhere bag lunches are no longer allowed. Not sure if it was just a local thing or nationwide.

originally posted by: WeAre0ne
a reply to: jude11

You're reply is completely expected. Your reaction is a predictable one, since you are a normal fearful conspiracy theorist.

It's funny to watch your simple mind jump from "fingerprints" to "criminal" in a single bound when you say "They are taking fingerprints of your child without having committed a crime, storing those prints.". Your mind is so simplistic and stuck in an old paradigm that you can't separate fingerprints and criminal activity. As if fingerprints are something only used for criminals.

Fingerprints are just another way to identify someone. We have many ways to identify people. Drivers license, ID cards, license plates, birth certificates, a first and last name, and pictures of their face. Our minds identify people every day automatically when we look at someones face. Computers can identify faces too, but its too complex a system. So we use another easier method, and that is usually ID cards. A simple magnetic strip with your ID on it that you swipe. But why waste money making these magnetic ID cards, when you can just scan a fingerprint? Why are you not scared of ID cards? Whats the big difference between that and a fingerprint? Or even facial recognition? Nothing.. there is no difference. Except a fingerprint cant be lost or stolen.

Your irrational fear is controlling your life.

Don't fear data that can help us all.

Tracking like cattle? More like scientific data to help improve human life.
Who cares where the fingerprints are stored and who has access? They are just fingerprints, which pretty much just translate to random numbers in a computer. They don't tell a persons entire life story, or invade privacy.

Someone can take a picture of your child and use that to identify them, why are you not scared of cameras? Cameras are no different from fingerprint scanners, except they take pictures of your entire body, and not just some wrinkles on your finger.

Refuses to bow down to what? Taking a picture of their finger? They will probably just continue to swipe their student ID, and life will move on.

You need to work on your irrational fears.

The insults on my personal views are expected from someone who supports this type of enslavement.

Thanks for proving my point.

Peace

This is the thin edge of the wedge people.
Amerika. Land of the free, home of the oppressed.

a reply to: Fylgje

You can't remove children from school in the UK. Schooling is mandatory, and parents face fines for each day their child is in non-attendance without a valid reason. Valid reason = Sick child. Also I believe if your child is off sick for more than 3 days, the LEA can ask you to supply a doctors certificate, proving the sickness is genuine.

Planned vacations during term time is no longer an acceptable valid reason.

Home schooling is rare, and I am not sure what approvals are required for it in the UK any more, I left school over 30 years ago, but approvals ARE required, you can't just yoink your spawn out of school and say "We're home schooling".

originally posted by: Cynic
This is the thin edge of the wedge people.
Amerika. Land of the free, home of the oppressed.

You obviously didn't read the post properly since its talking about the UK, and the UK is not part of Amerika, at least, not yet.