Or better yet: quit calling roll altogether. It is a total time waster, and as a student I find it offensive and annoying that part of my grade is given for just filling a seat.

If I can get an A after going to class 5 times, then I deserve an A. That's not to say it's not better to be in class, but the way I see it is that the students are paying the tuition, and it is on their heads whether they are there or not, so quit "fluffing" grades with attendance points.

In my opinion, my best professors never took roll, and instead focused class time on instructing.

Would the bar code be installed on the fore head?

Wow the letter writer hasn't set foot in a school in 50 years I bet.

Kids would be trading cards non stop. I can hear it already. "Go take my math test for me. Here is my card..."

The only way this would work is if you put a tatoo of the barcode on the kids arm.

What sounds like a good idea for education often is impossible to implement.

We don't "call roll" anymore. It is done on the computer. It takes me 5 seconds to scan the seating chart on the computer and mark who isn't there. There is no "calling" involved.

Wait is that technology?

I guess it is. Does that mean education isn't the last to use technology?

Not to mention how many 7th graders would lose their card every single day of the year.

There are about 10% that I can't even get them to bring a pencil to class. Those parents don't seem to care either.

It would be great for the other 90% of the kids but just one more nightmare for the office and staff that would be constantly issuing barcodes....

Jeffrey, I don't think the writer is talking about college classes where you go when you feel like you need to go. I think he's talking about grade school where the government requires you to be there.

It's a good idea - RFID technology could be used to check attendance and for security (to keep potential troublemaking non-students off campus), but as always, kids will find a way to cheat the system. For example, I could ditch but tell my friend to take my bar code to class and have it scanned.

But I agree with your general point. I think grade schools, especially high schools, should place more emphasis on having the student be responsible for his/her educational progress. College is good in that way - you can skip class all you want, but if you do badly, it's your own fault and noone is afraid to tell you that.

.....because the students would lose them or forget to bring them. It would be more money and hassle than it's worth.

I'm not dealing with cans of corn or bundles of socks. I'm dealing with YOUR children. This sounds like another way for Utah to "stack 'em deep and teach 'em cheap"

Until social promotion is discontinued and students must pass a grade level test to continue from one grade level to another, students (and parents) will not assume responsibility for their individual education. It is now the last half of fourth term -- 19 days until school ends -- and you would not believe how many of my students still act surprised that I require a writing utensil, paper, and book, and that I DO NOT offer supplies for them to purchase or keep. The only way a barcode might work is if it is injected under their skin -- and there will be those who still find a way to trick the system.

I have a better idea. Rather than ID cards, you get the same ankle things that they use on prisoners that are on home arrest. That way you can not only track them coming and going from school, but you know if they are late, or in the correct class. Something like that would save even more time!! I am sure that with a little modification, it could deliver electric shocks to students that are misbehaving. It could even be equiped with a cell phone jamming device that would prevent cell phones from receiving signals, except at certain times times of day in designated areas. I am sure that if you really worked it right, it could even test for drugs, insulin, and other things.

If you can't tell I am being sarcastic. A good teacher can figure out who is there and who is not.

Hopefully a teacher knows his or her students well enough to know who is absent.

But if you want to get picky, which apparently you do, since you're bickering about a supposed 5 minutes, bar codes aren't exactly at the forefront of technology. You say yourself that they have been used in industry for years. I might say decades, even, which means they're old technology. You might be able to do some cool stuff with RFID, or have the students turn on the bluetooth in their phones to identify themselves if you really need that.

But seriously, what are you proposing? a classroom door that doesn't let anyone in if they don't have their card? Sounds like you'll have one line for students with their cards checking in and another line at the teacher's desk to check in without their cards.

How will an ID card issue tests to students? Unless they have enough computers in the classroom for everyone, that doesn't work, besides the fact that it adds unnecessary complexity.

Many school districts already have systems where parents can login and see how students have done on tests/homework, but you don't need a card-it's just an electronic gradebook.

Actually, I just got it...biometric scanning. Just put your index finger on the scanner and you're identified. There are many places that use such systems for clocking in and out or security access. They could use it for paying for their lunch - we wouldn't need a cashier anymore, so the $10 per day she gets paid can go towards buying all the extra equipment and tech support. And when the system goes down, they can just do an old fashioned fingerprint on a piece of paper and scan that in later. :)