Uncle Sam Wants Your Child in His National Database

[Gunny]

Written by Sam Blumenfeld

The U.S. Department of Education has created the largest computerized database of personal information on American students ever gathered by any government in history. The exact personal and intimate facts in this database are outlined in the Student Data Handbook for Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education (NCES 94-303), released in 1994. Comprised of 228 pages plus about 100 pages of appendices, this handbook can be obtained from the U.S. Dept. of Education. Send for your own copy and prepare to be appalled. Or just read this article and find out what to do. The rationale for the handbook is described in Chapter 1 in typical bureaucratese:
Accurate and comprehensive information is needed in order to make appropriate cost-effective and timely decisions about students within both public and private schools. ... The handbook identifies concepts and data elements which are used to describe and make decisions about students. Some decisions are very specific, pertaining to personal needs, vocational choices, and educational programs of individual students. Other decisions are broader in scope, concerning the planning and management of education for large groups of students. ...

more ....http://www.thenewamerican.com/opinion/sam-blumenfeld/7952-uncle-sam-wants-your-child-in-his-national-database

What kind of crap is THIS?

[Abbey Marie]

I am appalled that this includes SS#'s.

[ConHog]

Hmm. Not sure why the government would need to collect such a volume of information. But hey it's okay your private information is perfectly safe with the government. :rolleyes:

[Gunny]

I am appalled that this includes SS#'s.

I'm appalled it exists at all. I see no good purpose to it. What next? DNA samples before your child can enter school?

The first thing I thought of when I saw this was 1930's Germany.

[ConHog]

I'm appalled it exists at all. I see no good purpose to it. What next? DNA samples before your child can enter school?

The first thing I thought of when I saw this was 1930's Germany.

Certainly I can see why the DoE would want the data. My problem is that it should be anonymous. They have no reason to know that Gunny Jr enjoys X,Y, and Z as long as they know that A STUDENT enjoys X,Y, and Z.

Our school collects data from students and parents in order to make local decisions on the direction we should take, but we always remove personal information from the results. I mean somewhere we DO have the paper forms that parents and or students have filled out, but that's just for legal reasons we can't throw them away. They are secured where no one can easily get to them, and the data that is available to see is not specific to any student.

[Gunny]

Certainly I can see why the DoE would want the data. My problem is that it should be anonymous. They have no reason to know that Gunny Jr enjoys X,Y, and Z as long as they know that A STUDENT enjoys X,Y, and Z.

Our school collects data from students and parents in order to make local decisions on the direction we should take, but we always remove personal information from the results. I mean somewhere we DO have the paper forms that parents and or students have filled out, but that's just for legal reasons we can't throw them away. They are secured where no one can easily get to them, and the data that is available to see is not specific to any student.

To tell the truth, I don't even see where the DoE is Constitutional. I must have missed in the Bill of Rights a Right to an education.

[ConHog]

To tell the truth, I don't even see where the DoE is Constitutional. I must have missed in the Bill of Rights a Right to an education.

I think that is a gray area. Surely if anything qualifies as the welfare of the people it would be education, but on the other hand, there is certainly not a definitive answer there either.

I personally believe that there SHOULD be a Department of Education, but that it should be a whole hell of a lot smaller and less powerful than it is. It shouldn't be anything more than a dispenser of federal money and a basic set of guidelines.

And here is the reason I believe that Gunny. I completely believe that some states are barely floating along the bottom of the educational levels as it is, and that they would sink even lower if federal rules allowed them to. Take a state like Mississippi for example. They have almost a 50% drop out rate in may areas of the state and yet they are constantly fighting the DofE claiming that their standards are too high. Too high? How bad would an education in Mississippi be if the DoE wasn't on their asses all the time?

On the flip side, I fully understand that a government entity is a self propelled monster and so as long as the DoE exists it's going to continually expand if it can.

Perhaps the solution is a law or even a constitutional amendment clearly setting the boundaries for the DoE ; but I don't believe doing away with the DoE is a viable solution to anything.

[Gunny]

I think that is a gray area. Surely if anything qualifies as the welfare of the people it would be education, but on the other hand, there is certainly not a definitive answer there either.

I personally believe that there SHOULD be a Department of Education, but that it should be a whole hell of a lot smaller and less powerful than it is. It shouldn't be anything more than a dispenser of federal money and a basic set of guidelines.

And here is the reason I believe that Gunny. I completely believe that some states are barely floating along the bottom of the educational levels as it is, and that they would sink even lower if federal rules allowed them to. Take a state like Mississippi for example. They have almost a 50% drop out rate in may areas of the state and yet they are constantly fighting the DofE claiming that their standards are too high. Too high? How bad would an education in Mississippi be if the DoE wasn't on their asses all the time?

On the flip side, I fully understand that a government entity is a self propelled monster and so as long as the DoE exists it's going to continually expand if it can.

Perhaps the solution is a law or even a constitutional amendment clearly setting the boundaries for the DoE ; but I don't believe doing away with the DoE is a viable solution to anything.

I'd be willing to bet that if it just worked within the original guidelines set for it, the DoE would be NOTHING that is today. Just like the rest of our government.

[ConHog]

I'd be willing to bet that if it just worked within the original guidelines set for it, the DoE would be NOTHING that is today. Just like the rest of our government.

No bet Gunny.

That's what I've never understood. Why beuracracies feel they have to constantly be expanding. I mean look at the TSA right now, talking about adding highway patrols and stuff. That wasn't their original mission.

Maybe what we need is an Amendment to the COTUS that prevents government agencies from expanding without congressional approval. Then we could roll back a bunch of these monstrosities all at one time and start over. DoE, Homeland Security (Which I would actually get rid of, why can't the FBI serve this role?) well I won't list them all, but pretty much every agency would take a hit. Sure some would lose their jobs, and certainly their budgets would shrink, but something has to be done.

[Gunny]

No bet Gunny.

That's what I've never understood. Why beuracracies feel they have to constantly be expanding. I mean look at the TSA right now, talking about adding highway patrols and stuff. That wasn't their original mission.

Maybe what we need is an Amendment to the COTUS that prevents government agencies from expanding without congressional approval. Then we could roll back a bunch of these monstrosities all at one time and start over. DoE, Homeland Security (Which I would actually get rid of, why can't the FBI serve this role?) well I won't list them all, but pretty much every agency would take a hit. Sure some would lose their jobs, and certainly their budgets would shrink, but something has to be done.

It would never fly. The Washington bureaucracy is an entity in and of itself as powerful as Congress if not more so. Plus, you'd have to overhaul those crumb snatchers in Congress first.

[ConHog]

It would never fly. The Washington bureaucracy is an entity in and of itself as powerful as Congress if not more so. Plus, you'd have to overhaul those crumb snatchers in Congress first.

Oh , I know Gunny. Just file it under ConHog's pipe dreams , right next to voter exams and prison sentences for elected officials who act unethically while in office.