Electronic Report Cards

Schools are going electronic here in my state and in many other..in issuing report cards. Yep, those schools aren't sending home report cards for parent to sign . Instead, they are making grades available to parents with secure accounts online. Ahhhhhhhhh What is a lousy student to do to hide those grades these days? It's not possible to erase that F and make it an 'A' anymore. Good thing I am finished with school...

Under the computer report card system paper copies of report cards will remain available for those without computers. But few people here don't have a computer at home or at a minimum access to one to see the grades little John made in school Let's see....some of my favorite excuses for hiding my report card from mom and dad are now gone. "The dog ate my report card" "My teacher is so proud of my report card she is keeping it posted at school". "It's being delayed for issuance." None of those will work for today's kids.

Hmmmmmmmmm First they post grades and then what? More data? How is a goof off like I was in my school years supposed to have fun in school anymore? I don't know how much information is available to parents this way, but it might lead to individual student to web where the teachers could give full reports on the student's progress or lack of progress and all their subjects. It would also be an opportunity to inform the parents of their kids' behavior in school which would help coordinate a successful learning atmosphere. Not good for the kiddies.

But I foresee some problems with the school/teachers posting more than just the occasional grade. It would entail a huge time investment for teachers to update a students page every day. When would they be expected to do this? Most teachers are swamped with work in school and have no time for that extra role.

And what about privacy for the kids? No web site is secure from others either sneaking a look at private information or , in the case of the savvy geeks in school, changing grades on line to please mom and dad. Too, what proof does the teacher have that the parents even saw the report card on line or that it didn't end up in their "spam" file? What we have in most schools now, a signed piece of paper as a report card, is a record for both the parent and teacher.
One thing is for sure. I give thanks to the failing Gods above that they didn't have this kind of electronic report card system when I was in school.