Text Messages Target Truants

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/3017863.stm' target='_blank'>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/...ion/3017863.stm</a><br /><br /></div>Ooh... I love technology. I was always the kid that was on time at school, and it always annoyed me when others would waltz in during 2nd or 3rd period. Looks like this might not last much longer.<br /><br />"The favourite pastime of teenager mobile phone-holders is being used to take the temptation out of playing truant. Two schools in Dublin are testing a scheme that will inform parents about absent pupils - through a text alert. From the start of the school year in September, all students who skip lessons at Portmarnock Community School or Manor House in the Irish capital's Raheny suburb will appear on a computerised database of absentees who qualify for an automatic standardised text message."<br /><br />There are some scary implications, though. If there are eventually locator services on wireless devices, does it mean that the school will be able to track down where the kid is hanging out?

[johncruise]

There are some scary implications, though. If there are eventually locator services on wireless devices, does it mean that the school will be able to track down were the kid is hanging out?

Bad news for teenagers, good news for parents! I don't know why in the world anyone would hate that idea. Well, maybe if you're the the teenager who skips class alot and you're one of those who owns stablishment where they usually hangs out.

[Jacob]

Bad news for teenagers, good news for parents! I don't know why in the world anyone would hate that idea. Well, maybe if you're the the teenager who skips class alot and you're one of those who owns stablishment where they usually hangs out.

For parents, yeah it's good.

The question is the security of who can track it. I can imagine this would be a dream for stalkers everywhere too.

[jimski]

AT&T offers a tracking service today. School sends message to parent via text message. Parent activates feature on their cell phone to find location of truant teen. Don't see any harm in this.

[lonesniper]

If I was smart and wanted to skip school I would make the nerdy kid carry my cell phone into class so when they try and track me it looks like I am in class. Then I am free to hang out in Mcdonalds and have a McFlurry.
This technology reminds me of the big red round location device Arnie had in his nose in Total Recall. It is great until you pull it out and put it inside a rat.

[DavidHorn]

"oi u littl sh*t. get bck to skool nw"

[Brad Adrian]

I'm not sure that this system is actually used to detect the truancy, but it sends the notification to the parents via text message, right? In the U.S. I know that schools are requiring students to turn their phones off, so locating student wouldn't work anyway.

For many years, though, similar systems have been available for automatically notifying people via telephone; I automatically get a call whenever one of my kids stays home sick. Will this text thing take the place of that?

[jpaq]

Great idea, just taken too far too fast.

First, you have to teach the parents how to retreive the text message....

Honestly, it would be fairly simple to start with an E-Mail. If the school systems were to put something in place like the Exchange Mobile Information Server, they could E-Mail, etc. Give the parents the option. When the kid gets registered at school, the parents (the ones that care) log into a website and enter their relavant contact info and preferences. Then when little Billy is late to school, or to class, or skips, the parents get a message and can use the information to PARENT.

Provide the initial info first. That would be fairly easy to implement and would likley be accepted, even encouraged, by the populous. Once that is in place and working, then you move to lojacking your kids.

I really do think this is an excellent idea, up to the lojacking part. :D

[RobertCF]

Omigosh, a good idea based on a very flawed assumption. That assumption being the parents of the truant malcontents CARE that their kid is truant. I've seen it over and over and over, parents are notified and their reaction is "What can I do? I can't control him/her anymore"....or some other excuse for not asserting their parental authority. Of course, there's the additional assumption on how many parents actually have cell phones or other similar instant message enable devices. You'd be surprise how many people have not jumped on the bandwagon even in this day.

[Janak Parekh]

Omigosh, a good idea based on a very flawed assumption. That assumption being the parents of the truant malcontents CARE that their kid is truant. I've seen it over and over and over, parents are notified and their reaction is "What can I do? I can't control him/her anymore"....or some other excuse for not asserting their parental authority.
This is very true, and is a major social problem (at least, in my opinion). But at least this might help in the "oh, let's skip first period" kids. I knew a bunch that would get grounded by their parents for that.

--janak

[Kati Compton]

I'm so boring that the only times I skipped school were WITH my mother.

[johncruise]

The question is the security of who can track it. I can imagine this would be a dream for stalkers everywhere too.

The system is for notifying parents if their kids are not in school... not for tracking teenagers with their cellphone.

[acronym]

heh, this was on fark a couple of days ago

9et ur a55 b4ck 1n sk00l

[Don Tolson]

Hmmm, have I not being keeping up with cell phone technology?? From what I understand of it, all anyone can tell from a cell phone is what 'cell' it's located in at any time. And some of the cells cover a pretty wide area, if memory serves -- in a city, at least 5 to 10 square blocks.

I'd be worried when they start installing GPS/ELT's into cell phones.

[ctmagnus]

Kinda reminds me of the time Bart skipped school on The Simpsons and Principal Skinner turned Terminator and tracked him down.

This also reminds me of the stupid policy our school had in place, where you were not allowed to leave the school during your spares, but it was "acceptable" to skip. But then, our school was soooo small that once you arrived in the morning, everyone knew you were there so you were pretty much there for the day. Until they instituted the policy that if you didn't have a class, you didn't have to be there, which was shortly after I graduated (and I have a feeling that I and a few others helped to implement that policy through persistent whining).