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Every child numbered for life
The government will today announce plans of the creation of a database containing details of exam results, and a record of exclusions and expulsions, for every child over the age of 14, which colleges and prospective employers will be able to access. Children will each have a personal identity number which will stay with them for life. Does it mean that someone with a poor school record will be blighted for life, and will never be able to put the past behind him and start afresh?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/educa tion/article3359931.ece
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/educa tion/article3359931.ece
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It is a ludicrous plan.
I could kind of understand offering a voluntary personal use database for people who just want a place to easily store and access info on their qualifications for CVs and the like (but there'd be no need for the gov't to provide that).
But compulsory databasing? I don't see any reason whatsoever to do this, it's pointless.
Luckily, it does seem to just be a plan. Ministers frequently come up with plans that never go anywhere, so hopefully this will be shelved once they realise how unpopular it is.
I could kind of understand offering a voluntary personal use database for people who just want a place to easily store and access info on their qualifications for CVs and the like (but there'd be no need for the gov't to provide that).
But compulsory databasing? I don't see any reason whatsoever to do this, it's pointless.
Luckily, it does seem to just be a plan. Ministers frequently come up with plans that never go anywhere, so hopefully this will be shelved once they realise how unpopular it is.
Darn tooting! Don't know why they need different numbers, just brand each of the little bubblegum producers with 666 (614?) and have done with it! They smell of cheese and oinion crisps too....
Ok, putting my very evident maternal feelings aside, it's probably just a load of BS, I don't think most employers would be too worried about what you got up to when you were 14 and I imagine it would actually be pretty useless. They're hardly going to be paying attention to your antics when you're 14 if you've got a doctorate in thermal dynamics since then. (And no, I don't know what thermal dynamics are but I imagine it's not to do with whether or not to wear the red or green thermal vest).
Ok, putting my very evident maternal feelings aside, it's probably just a load of BS, I don't think most employers would be too worried about what you got up to when you were 14 and I imagine it would actually be pretty useless. They're hardly going to be paying attention to your antics when you're 14 if you've got a doctorate in thermal dynamics since then. (And no, I don't know what thermal dynamics are but I imagine it's not to do with whether or not to wear the red or green thermal vest).
Sounds like a bloody good idea.
If a kid is bad at 10 years old, let alone 14, he or she will be bad later on in life.
Perhaps this may act as a kick up the arse for all the parents who breed the filth which blights many secondary schools nowadays.
You hear all the vegan social workers harping on about labelling and self full-filling prophcies etc, but this is absolute hogwash.
Also, this is more about behaviour than educational acheivment. The vast majority of jobs do not require qualifications, they require people skills, commonsense and a person of good character.
Does anybody honestly believe some little council estate scumbag from Cardiff who has been expelled twice and shown to be a bully at school will be a good policeman or able seaman??? The answer is a resounding no.
If a kid is bad at 10 years old, let alone 14, he or she will be bad later on in life.
Perhaps this may act as a kick up the arse for all the parents who breed the filth which blights many secondary schools nowadays.
You hear all the vegan social workers harping on about labelling and self full-filling prophcies etc, but this is absolute hogwash.
Also, this is more about behaviour than educational acheivment. The vast majority of jobs do not require qualifications, they require people skills, commonsense and a person of good character.
Does anybody honestly believe some little council estate scumbag from Cardiff who has been expelled twice and shown to be a bully at school will be a good policeman or able seaman??? The answer is a resounding no.
There's no logical reason why he shouldn't be offered equal oppurtunity though. Which this proposal quite clearly enfringes.
Plus I'd far rather the money proposed going into this be put into measures designed to actually prevent such behaviour. If someone's got some expulsions on the record, then punishing them with something as over-elaborate and intrusive as this will do nothing to change his behaviour or deter others.
Also, naomi24 and I seem to be in agreement. This proves that there's something wrong with it.
The vast majority of jobs do not require qualifications, they require people skills, commonsense and a person of good character.
Okay. Try removing all your qualifications from your CV and replacing them with info about your 'good character'. Then go job hunting. See how far it gets you.
Plus I'd far rather the money proposed going into this be put into measures designed to actually prevent such behaviour. If someone's got some expulsions on the record, then punishing them with something as over-elaborate and intrusive as this will do nothing to change his behaviour or deter others.
Also, naomi24 and I seem to be in agreement. This proves that there's something wrong with it.
The vast majority of jobs do not require qualifications, they require people skills, commonsense and a person of good character.
Okay. Try removing all your qualifications from your CV and replacing them with info about your 'good character'. Then go job hunting. See how far it gets you.
Krom, you can be so hurtful at times! :o)
People should be honest about their qualifications, so that aspect of it doesn't particularly worry me. However, the rest does. A lot of young people behave incredibly stupidly, and many, as Bewley says, will never change. However, some do. It doesn't necessarily follow that a hooligan at 14 will be a hooligan at 35, but this doesn't give people a chance to reform even if they want to. They're branded for life. I find the implications of a government database of this nature quite worrying.
People should be honest about their qualifications, so that aspect of it doesn't particularly worry me. However, the rest does. A lot of young people behave incredibly stupidly, and many, as Bewley says, will never change. However, some do. It doesn't necessarily follow that a hooligan at 14 will be a hooligan at 35, but this doesn't give people a chance to reform even if they want to. They're branded for life. I find the implications of a government database of this nature quite worrying.
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