Michigan upset - children fingerprinted w/o permission [CNN]

[Jim Choate]

Forwarded message:

>    
>                CHILDREN'S FINGERPRINTING RILES MICHIGAN PARENTS
>                                        
>      fingerprint graphic January 29, 1998
>      Web posted at: 3:51 p.m. EST (2051 GMT)
>      
>      DETROIT (AP) -- Parents and legal experts have identified a problem
>      with Michigan standardized testing -- 122,000 fifth-graders provided
>      their fingerprints without permission.
>      
>      The public-school children had to fill out a "Fingerprint
>      Investigation Journal" as part of the science segment on the
>      Michigan Educational Assessment Program.
>      
>      "It's offensive," said Andrea Lang of St. Clair Shores, who learned
>      that her 10-year-old daughter provided fingerprints for the test
>      last week. "It's an invasion of privacy. Only criminals get their
>      fingerprints taken."
>      
>      The fingerprint journal was merely a hands-on experiment designed to
>      make the science portion of the test more interesting, Peter Bunton
>      of the MEAP office, said Wednesday.
>      
>      State law says that with few exceptions, children's fingerprints
>      can't be obtained without parents' permission. Bunton said he was
>      unaware of the law.

[text deleted]


    ____________________________________________________________________
   |                                                                    |
   |       The most powerful passion in life is not love or hate,       |
   |       but the desire to edit somebody elses words.                 |
   |                                                                    |
   |                                  Sign in Ed Barsis' office         |
   |                                                                    | 
   |            _____                             The Armadillo Group   |
   |         ,::////;::-.                           Austin, Tx. USA     |
   |        /:'///// ``::>/|/                     http://www.ssz.com/   |
   |      .',  ||||    `/( e\                                           |
   |  -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'-                         Jim Choate       |
   |                                                 ravage at ssz.com     |
   |                                                  512-451-7087      |
   |____________________________________________________________________|