Today's thought is more serious than usual. Usually, I don't go this serious,
but I may have to let out my seriousness.. just this once.. (Sarcastic mocking joke).
Dear district, or whoever implemented the ID system,
I wasn't originally going to discuss about this topic, but after today's "walkout"
(The act of protesting by leaving the premises) by students protesting for gun reforms,
I feel like I should detail why IDs are (mostly) an ineffective solution to a seemingly never-ending problem.
Firstly, while school IDs do a great job at preventing unauthorized personnel with weapons from entering the premises,
they do not do a great job, or any job at all, at preventing authorized personnel with weapons.
There has been countless cases of school shootings where the perpetrator was not an unauthorized individual, but a student
from the school with a valid ID. This means that school IDs are not effective against certain types of situations.
In essence, school IDs in this scenario would be like rearranging the deck chairs in the Titanic.
Sure, it is a well-meaning change, but it is merely a bandaid to an ever-growing problem faced by students nowadays.
Secondly, most of the types of IDs used in schools are just plastic templates that can be modified digitally
and printed for a given student. This serves as a security risk for forgery, as a skilled individual with the right knowledge, could
potentially forge their own IDs and use them to gain access to school grounds. Especially in my case, personally, where all you have to do
is wave the badge to an adult to be let in. (Yes, even if you're multiple feet away. As long as the ID looks valid.)
On the upside, some school IDs have barcodes, which when scanned, return the student's information pertaining to the ID.
This is great! However, if an ID is forged well enough, it might not occur to an adult to scan the ID.
Additionally, school IDs are inefficient! In my personal experience, I have found that since the change it is more slower
to enter school as students stop every few seconds to show their ID.
In conclusion, school IDs are a bandaid used to attempt to help a deep gash. It might help a little, but overall is largely
ineffective in keeping students safe, as well as make school life more inconvenient for everyone affected.
In other words, I am not totally upset with the fact schools had to resort to security measures, it is mostly about the fact they chose an
edge-case alternative and that.. it had to come to this point at all. You don't see other countries doing this, don't you? The thought that it had to come
to IDs and strict security measures evokes that of dystopian tendencies.