Smart School Uniforms

Long-time readers will recall that I support reasonable dress codes for students (and yes, even for staff) at school.  I heard the following a long time ago, and it applies as well to schools as it does to the business world:  if, when you get home, you don't change into something more comfortable, then you weren't dressed appropriately.  No, I'm not saying that people should be uncomfortable, rather that they shouldn't dress as if every place were the beach or gym.

Not all school dress codes are reasonable, and I've spilled many electrons on this blog opposing them.  I believe in personal autonomy within reasonable limits; of course, the definition of "reasonable" is the devil in the details.

The campus at which I work has security cameras.  They've come in handy in identifying many miscreants; on the other hand, I despise the CCTV surveillance culture of, in particular, London.  I don't know where the appropriate line is to be drawn, but I believe that my school is on the OK side of the line and London is on the other.

A few schools in China, though, are (surprise! surprise!) taking surveillance a bit too far:

Ten schools in China have new "intelligent uniforms" that will track students' whereabouts with embedded computer chips.

The uniforms, which are equipped with GPS devices developed by a local tech firm, are meant to ensure that students don't skip class. Alarms are set to go off if a student walks out of the school building or falls asleep during a lesson...

The chips can also reportedly be used as a cashless payment system for snacks bought on school grounds, although parents and the school would see everything a student buys.

In addition, if students try to swap uniforms in order to leave the campus, the system is designed to prevent that: Facial recognition scanners at school gates match the chips with the correct student, reports the Telegraph.

I tolerate controls on children that I wouldn't tolerate on adults, as children are still learning, but such uniforms are going way too far.  Rather than training students to dress appropriately, they train students to accept ubiquitous surveillance.  Shocking, I know, in a one-party state.