Several schools have made connected pens available to their students, capable of monitoring notes and transmitting them to teachers.
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Published on 08/12/2022 10:42
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A Big Brother version of the new school year is upon us. In China, several elementary and secondary schools have distributed connected pens to their students. Equipped with a miniature camera, they film the students’ notes and transmit the images to the teacher in real time. The teacher thus ensures that his students actually work. He can then download the homework to correct it. The use of these spy pens should be generalized from the start of the next school year.
It was the Chinese newspaper Chengdu Shangabo that reported on July 30 the unveiling of a schoolgirl from Hainan, an island in the south of the country. A teacher reportedly gave out free “smart pens” to his class over the summer to help them do their homework. By writing on a special piece of paper, the pen’s camera captures the notes and sends a notification to the teacher to let them know their students are working. According to the newspaper, this practice has been widespread in certain schools in Shanghai and Yunnan provinces for several years.
Several surveillance systems have been tested in Chinese schools for the past two years. The identity of each student is verified at the entrance to the facility through light detection, brain activity is measured using headsets worn in class to verify that they are thinking and not falling asleep during class… Sometimes cameras are even installed in the classroom to attract attention of students and monitor their participation.
This 2.0 series is part of a national plan to computerize the education system. Many parents are rebelling against these systems of control, immersed in an already hyper-connected and hyper-monitored Chinese society.
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