The Paradox of Privacy in Education and the Nation
© copyright 2013 Betsy L. Angert
EmpathyEducates and
BeThink.
Currently, in this country the right to privacy is the subject of myriad conversations.. Since reports from the Guardian and The Washington Post revealed that every American is being followed people have pondered a broader question. What is the price of freedom and how do we define the term.
Are we free to chat when our telephone records are being kept? Can we surf the web without worry knowing that every keyboard stroke is being recorded? For most of our lives, citizens believed what we learned in school. The Fourth Amendment protects us. As Americans, we have a right to privacy without search or seizure, or do we? In recent months, school districts nationwide have loosened the restrictions on student privacy bolstered by the benevolence of Philanthropists such as Bill and Melinda Gates. A comprehensive student database built to chart the academic paths of public school students from kindergarten through high school shapes and defines our youth.
Does Johnny struggle with fractions or is he challenged by the ways in which his Math lessons are delivered? The database will record a programmed interpretation of Johnnyâs experience â "and may also record that young John finds textbooks boring, he adores animation and plays baseball after school." Will the software speak with Johnny? Will it ask him how he feels, and say to him, what is going on at home? Highly unlikely just as it is improbable that the Federal Judge who reviews surveillance records understands that the searches we do are scholarly in nature or that as persons living in a diverse community we have friends born in foreign lands? Will the Barrister think to speak with us, trust us, or will he/she presume that we are guilty as charged?
Johnny, his parents and teacher might know this answer, for children are, in certain states, already under surveillance.
Software assesses a young learner's performance and dictates how he might better progress. In Districts that currently use the database software determines how Johnny might better achieve. The information collected on a child is used to serve up tailor-made instruction. A math lesson, perhaps an animated game that uses baseball statistics to teach decimals, all that little Johnny is presumed to need, want and love.
Parents have no place in decisions made. Teachers watch students' development on a "dashboard." Bright graphics map pupils' progress on dozens, even hundreds, of discrete skills. The Educator need not engage young Johnny; nor will he/she have time to do so. After all, records need to be kept.
All right, we have always kept student records. Everyone remembers the threats; that will be placed in your permanent file. Perhaps, the assumption was, children need to learn the rules, what is right and wrong. That is the price of freedom. And what is the cost today? What is the reason for monitoring adults? Does it differ from what we say is true and necessary for children?
Do adults know and assert: We have rights? We are told that yes, we do. All our freedoms are still protected, as are those of our progeny. But again we ask; could a judge see a snippet from our files and authorize further investigation, or might a future administrator act as a jury when evaluating our child or his teacher? What about the principle outlined in the fourth amendment? Exactly, what does privacy mean?
Is privacy a privilege? Can it be taken away if or when, or at will? Might it be a slight loss of privacy protects us and or our children? Or better yet, does the loss of privacy actually work in our favor?
For years, we have accepted that we are all connected. Connectivity, as a concept is thought of as good. Indeed, we appreciate the practice of combing through our data for commercial reasons. Send me coupons for what I consume. It serves us well when an advertisement for, let us say shoes pops up on our screen just as you were searching for a new pair. Google maps? What a treat; someone to track me when I are lost, direct me to an event, help me find my way to a recommended restaurant, all good. What about privacy? What about it, we are all on camera and our children have grown up in a Facebook universe. Many of their friends are children seen only online.
The young know, as do their parents that if you go to a store, proprietors are scanning your eyes. Travel down city streets, and police cameras monitor you. In a car? Your speed is tracked at every turn and so are students test results. High achievers and low, learners are grouped according to their skills. Might this be a sort of profiling?
Does it matter? This is the price we pay for protection. Especially since September 11, 2001, decidedly we as a society have deemed that this is the sacrifice we must make to preserve our civil liberties. We would rather be safe than sorry, protected from possible terror attacks.
Is it worth the cost? What about our quality of life? We might also ask what does it mean to be a democratic nation if we are profiled and possibly, albeit mistakenly, judged a terrorist or an underperforming student. These are questions parents have posed over the last many months. Teachers too have expressed concern. "Terrorist" may not be the term used to define a child who is being tracked, but other findings may yield a similar punitive pronouncement.
In education, many are aware of the sweeping plan to gather student data beginning in March 2013. A $100 million database plan was adopted by several states. Initially, the measure was characterized as a means to safely store and share all student records. Now, parents express concern and still, the database and inBloom delivers.
Consolidated records protect the children, kindergarten through twelfth grade, from human error in assessments and the NSA's [National Security Agency] PRISM too protects us, from? Do we feel safer or are we sorry that we chose to forfeit our Civil Rights post 9/11?
Sure, the use of comprehensive accounts would allow a Teacher to choose games, videos or lesson plans that promote specific skills, but will the assessments be better than those made independent of the records? And what about our telephone and web exchanges? Will assessments of these offer opportunities for growth?
The inBloom system was designed to identify millions of children by name, race, economic status and myriad other metrics, how well did the five year old do in math, science, or reading? Did a doctor diagnose him or her with a learning disability? Will he or she have time or an opportunity to transition once these designations are made? Or will the label Johnny or Jill receives stay with him/her for the rest of their lives?
InBloom, the company that created the software, says the information is safe Data security is such a high priority. "While in this day and age no security protections can be 100% guaranteed, inBloom has greatly improved student data protectionâ¦" Just as the President of the United States did today in a Press Conference, "my observation is,that the people who are involved in Americaâs national security, they take this work very seriously. They cherish our Constitution." The same might be said of those in inBloom. When asked of student privacy, the retort was and is inBloom is fully compliant with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is constructed in a way that makes it easy for school districts to share some or all of that information with private companies developing education software.
The question is what is the national government creating, why and of what use is it? Is data collection done because it can be? What do our school districts do, not for our youth, but for the Philanthropists who have invested somewhere in the range of $425 million and multi-billion dollars in PreK-12 software thus far? Do "benefits" outweigh the risks and did we forego our right to sovereignty? The answers may be many. Thankfully, at least now we as a nation we are at least talking about our rights and what is "right."
Data Points and References..
- U.S., British intelligence mining data from nine U.S. Internet companies in broad secret program, By Barton Gellman and Laura Poitras. The Washington Post. June 6, 2013
- NSA Prism program taps in to user data of Apple, Google and others, By Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill. The Guardian. June 6, 2013
- The Fourth Amendment United States Constitution. Cornell University Law School.
- inBloom Staes and District Partners. inBloom.
- New York parents furious at program, inBloom, that compiles private student information for companies that contract with it to create teaching tools. New York Daily News. March 13, 2013
- NewSchools Ventures.NewSchools Fund
- NewSchools Fund Attracts More Capital, By Motoko Rich. The New York Times. April 30, 2013
- PreK-12 Ed-Tech Market Estimated at $7.5 Billion, By Ian Quillen. Education Week. November 29, 2011 4:53 PM
- K-12 student database jazzes tech startups, spooks parents, By Stephanie Simon. Reuters. March 3, 2013
- Plans for vast student database collide with parentsâ privacy concerns, By Stephanie Simon. Reuters via @openchannelblog. May 29, 2013
- Transcript: Obamaâs Remarks on NSA Controversy. Washington Wire . WSJ., June 7, 2013
- Frequently Asked Questions. inBloom.