ssn = student id?

I thought posting Social Security Numbers instead of names along with grades was illegal in this state. I was a GTA at K-State from 2001-2003 (in the early days of evolution), and I was told not to do it.

It turns out that it was simply a university policy not to do so — K-State has been scaling back the use of SSNs for identification for years, and I think it’s a good thing.

There are some public grade schools in Kansas which still use them:

North High senior Brendon May has learned enough about identity theft to know it’s not smart to give anyone access to your Social Security number.

So he doesn’t like that some of his teachers use his Social Security number when posting his grades anonymously.

May is among about 13,600 of the district’s nearly 49,000 students whose student ID is the same as their Social Security number.

The lists of grades don’t include names, but May thinks it wouldn’t be that hard to figure out which number belongs to which student. He said he’s heard other students “make smart comments” about stealing the lists.

Why a teacher needs to know a student’s Social Security Number at all is beyond me.

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