Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Stockholm parents built their own school app, then the city called the cops

wired.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 357 posts

Re: Stockholm parents built their own school app, then the city called the cops

#141

Post by matheusmoreira »

wonderwonder wrote: post #105
raxxorrax wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I said, as a kid I would have hated this. I don't think kids benefit from this kind of overbearing parenting in the long run. Better than being neglected, I guess. Perhaps this is useful for very young children, but knowing myself I would have broken out of there as quickly as possible.

All kids are sent home with a folder that lists the homework they have due, tests they have taken etc. This just puts it online? Are you saying that putting it online is the issue or that parents should have no insight on what their kids are doing unless the kid decides to tell the parent?

> parents should have no insight on what their kids are doing unless the kid decides to tell the parent

As a kid this is exactly what I believed. Parents believe otherwise, of course.

Re: Stockholm parents built their own school app, then the city called the cops

#142

Post by nineplay »

raxxorrax wrote: post #8

> In some cases, people’s personal information could be accessed from Google searches. SEO providers should take a note here. > It warned parents to stop using the app and alleged that it might be illegally accessing people’s personal information If your API allows data extraction, it probably isn't a fault of any client. Perhaps they meant that creators could steal credentials. A problem with any software. I think t…

> I think this digital child managing system sounds moderately dystopian to be honest. I would have hated to give my parents access to anything like this. Kids will of course learn from how their parents behave...

I don't really disagree but we are in an era where children's academic outcomes are based entirely on parental involvement. Scratch any surface of any under-performer lightly and the cry will go up "The schools can't be blamed for poor parenting!"

I think we rarely acknowledge that this is a recent development. Ask most Gen-Xers ( me ), ask boomers, ask greatest generationers if you know any. "How involved were your parents in your schoolwork?". You'll probably get a blank stare - "None?".

I suspect it started with the "Asians are going to beat us" panic from the 80s. They were killing us in math scores and if we weren't careful we'd all be working for them someday. In retrospect the danger was exaggerated.

Now, however, heavy parental involvement is required for kids to succeed. If the kids don't finish their homework - could it be that they are getting to much homework? Nah, it must be bad parents. If they can't pass the tests, could it be their teachers have not prepared them? Nope - the parents should have been spending their evenings going though flash cards.

It only exacerbates the difference between that haves and have nots. If you don't have a parent who can devote time every day to overseeing your education, you're out of luck.

Re: Stockholm parents built their own school app, then the city called the cops

#143

Post by pmdulaney »

This is a bit off-topic, but why are magazines doing so much better in the UK than here in the US? Why is the spinoff UK version of WIRED so much better than the original US version?

Is it just the case that the Brits have more of an appreciation for print culture than we do?

Re: Stockholm parents built their own school app, then the city called the cops

#144

Post by azinman2 »

wonderwonder wrote: post #94
Diggsey wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's absolutely micromanaging and negative. The goal of school isn't just to pass the tests. If a kid fails to revise for a test, but it doesn't matter because their parent will just look up the schedule and force them to revise, then they learn nothing beyond what's in the test. If they fail to revise and as a result do badly at the test, then next time they might actually take the initiative and revise through th…

Thanks for the feedback on my parenting style Diggsey, I will be on the lookout for a visit from child services for the terrible crime of paying attention to my kids results at school, making sure they do their homework and sitting down and studying with them for their tests. I only hope they can forgive me when they are older.

I’ve learned that once you have dogs or children, everyone else seems to have a very important opinion on what you should do with your own, all related services, etc.

Re: Stockholm parents built their own school app, then the city called the cops

#145

Post by titusjohnson »

bjourne wrote: post #132
urvader wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(I am Christian Landgren, cofounder of the project) You are right, the city believes they have ownership of the data, mainly because they fail to understand that they aren’t showing data in an app, but rather publishing data in an API. In Swedish law, once you have released data from a government, the receiver have the right to do whatever they want with the that data (as long as it isn’t violating any other laws). T…

But there is no API here. The article makes it clear that you were intercepting client-server communication not meant to be used by third parties in order to write your own client. That it could be used as an API doesn't matter since the intent wasn't to create an API. I could do the same thing and write an app for, say, the tax agency by scraping its website but it would be a legal gray area.

There is clearly an API in play here. The article mentions it numerous times. The client app has to use an API to get its data, that's a downside of deploying a SPA. You need to make an API for it to get data from.

If you don't want to make an API that exposes raw data just write a SSR app. If you want to deploy a SPA, well, you have to deploy an API as well and you need to plan around the fact that when you throw an API out into the wild and authorize people to use it (by handing out auth tokens), well, people are gonna use it.

Re: Stockholm parents built their own school app, then the city called the cops

#146

Post by ClumsyPilot »

ghaff wrote: post #51
Loughla wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, in almost every publicly funded position, your job, salary and benefits are available for everyone to see. I am employed by a publicly funded institution now, and everything I earn is available for consumption, along with extra-duty pay, benefits, and historical data. Why would it be crazy for that to be available for everyone? I genuinely don't get what the big idea is.

The logic with the public sector is that "the people" are paying for it so it's their business where the money is going. I'm not personally much of a fan of private sector salaries, income tax paid, etc. being a matter of public record but it's also not obviously "crazy" either. There are reasonable debates about transparency at the margins and this is a margin.

"I'm not personally much of a fan of private sector salaries...being public"

Think bigger, you are missing the forest for the trees.

It is not about Tom finding out Joe is getting paid 5% more.

It's about Joe finding out his employer took advatage of his inexperienceand lied to him, and everyone in the industry gets paid 2x what he does.

Corporations have a massive data advantage and leverage over you, they know how much everyone is paid, and how much their competitors pay. This data helps level the playing field.

It also helps detect illegal price fixing, breaches of minimum wage, makes plain effectiveness or ineffectiveness of unions, etc. It informs journalism and policy.

Every time you refuse to tell your colleague your salary, you are not helping yourself, you are helping your boss.

Re: Stockholm parents built their own school app, then the city called the cops

#147

Post by throwaway2331 »

pmdulaney wrote: post #143

This is a bit off-topic, but why are magazines doing so much better in the UK than here in the US? Why is the spinoff UK version of WIRED so much better than the original US version? Is it just the case that the Brits have more of an appreciation for print culture than we do?

Americans don't read.

Re: Stockholm parents built their own school app, then the city called the cops

#148

Post by falcolas »

newbamboo wrote: post #139
falcolas wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you able to tell us, without looking at your calendar, every meeting you have for the next week, every assigned task without consulting your task manager, all without fail and with perfect recall of the details? Expecting more from a child's brain than you do of yourself is folly.

Should a child know what calendars are for? It seems like that could be a useful tool for them to have in their toolkit.

At least for my nieces and nephews, they have as much access to their scholastic portal as their parents. So yes, such calendars are absolutely useful tools. A good thing for parents and children to look at together.

And much like their calendars, we do not ourselves set every event that appears on our calendars.

Re: Stockholm parents built their own school app, then the city called the cops

#149

Post by wahlis »

Entalpi wrote: post #90
locallost wrote: post #29

> The platform is a complex system that’s made up of three different parts, containing 18 individual modules that are maintained by five external companies. The sprawling system is used by 600 preschools and 177 schools, with separate logins for every teacher, student, and parent. The only problem? It doesn’t work. > The Skolplattform, which has cost more than 1 billion Swedish Krona, SEK, ($117 million), has failed…

Rather its that the goverment funded development resulted in a bad product. People reimplementing it in a their spare time resulted in an even better product.

More likely the MVP covered all the basics that the platform should do. Then all the rest of the legal requirements had to be implemented and that broke it. Support for secret identities, all the special needs, support for non employees, legal guardians and a million other things which is important for the last 5%. It would probably be cheaper to give those with special requirements personal support than to write the code for it

Re: Stockholm parents built their own school app, then the city called the cops

#150

Post by pmdulaney »

throwaway2331 wrote: post #147
pmdulaney wrote: post #143

This is a bit off-topic, but why are magazines doing so much better in the UK than here in the US? Why is the spinoff UK version of WIRED so much better than the original US version? Is it just the case that the Brits have more of an appreciation for print culture than we do?

Americans don't read.

(sigh) Yeah, that's probably most of it...
Post reply on HN