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

wired.co.uk

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

#161

Post by cmurf »

pixl97 wrote: post #119
jacobolus wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My oldest kid is 5, but I hope when he is older I can leave him to handle his own schoolwork (offering help if he wants it). > study for their weekly spelling tests for 10 minutes a day Aside: Spending 1.5+ hours per week between home and school studying spelling per se in the way students typically study spelling is an outrageous waste of time. Arguably studying spelling per se is a waste of time in any quantity (as…

> I can leave him to handle his own schoolwork It turns out that kids are not adults. Part of raising them is teaching them life skills such as time management is something that takes a of time and management. You may be lucky and have a child that manages time well, or you may have a contrarian that does what they want. Part of being that manager, is knowing exactly what you are managing and having readily available…

I am contrary. Around 12, I rejected homework, learned to manipulate and lie instead. It took many detentions and frustrated parents to get me reoriented. I can completely understand kids who don't like being told to be a rote learning little worker bee who does what's told without question. Why do this at all? Why do it this way? No one else cares, they just want it over with as fast as possible, but the same crap comes up over and over again as if to make kids comfortable being bored, and doing what they're told. It's such magnificent bullcrap.

Rejoice if your kid is difficult. They see a problem. Adults need to help them understand it.

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

#162

Post by aneutron »

coldcode wrote: post #92
assbuttbuttass wrote: post #62

The most hilarious part is the official app was built by five different contracting companies. No wonder the thing was a mess.

A long time ago some teammates (prior to my joining the company) had been assigned to work on some VA related health system, turned out they were 8 levels sub contractors, i.e. sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-contractors. Project never shipped.

It still boggles my mind how ANYONE would sign off on a setup like this. How does no one see that this will fail without a single doubt.

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

#163

Post by ClumsyPilot »

wyager wrote: post #32
castis wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you go into more detail on why you think this?

Not him, but I can take a guess: 99% of apps suck and are horrible to work with. Government apps are probably worse than average. Interacting with the government shouldn’t require the use of any particular tech device. It sounds like in this case there is no alternative. Schools have managed for hundreds of years without this additional complexity, so there’s probably not a good justification to start adding this com…

"Schools have managed for hundreds of years without this additional complexity"

Thats why they managed so well when COVID came along and remote schooling became nessesary.

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

#164

Post by rndgermandude »

pwdisswordfish8 wrote: post #140
drcongo wrote: post #128

Every edutech platform I've ever had to use (UK, with 3 kids going through school) is an abomination, the whole sector needs disrupting. My current nemesis is Iris Parentmail [0], a convoluted jumble of javascript that presents the user with a challenge - try to read the apparently important message the school has sent you before Parentmail crashes your browser. If the message is particularly long, then there's an en…

For anyone who's been burned by these: Why aren't you equally as mad at the personnel at your child's school? It's one thing for a national or semi-national rollout of broken enterprise junk, it's another thing for your child's instructor to go along and demand that you use this broken system instead of providing reasonable affordances (e.g. low-tech, paper-based notices/forms that get sent home with your kid). For t…

>it's another thing for your child's instructor to go along and demand that you use this broken system instead of providing reasonable affordances

I am not sure, but it might be that the teachers are not only encouraged but required to use these systems?

>you don't own an iOS or Android device, or you have no smartphone at all? Is there an actual legal requirement for you to contribute on an ongoing basis to the bottom-line of select tech companies like Apple and Google in order to participate in public life—as if it's on par with the necessity to pay for e.g. renewing your government-issued ID?

That really became a problem here in Germany, when politicians proclaimed that "digital/remote learning" will safe the day in covid times. Not realizing that a lot of kids, especially in the poor neighborhoods, nor their parents, actually have any capable devices for that. Or fast enough internet (with enough mobile data) to support zoom meetings and such each day.

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

#165

Post by pmdulaney »

kalleboo wrote: post #151
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?

Maybe due to public transport?

You may have something there. I myself do most of my reading on my commuter bus.

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

#166

Post by dgfitz »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #141
wonderwonder wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Do you have children? Honest question.

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

#167

Post by kalleboo »

wonderwonder wrote: post #21
capableweb wrote: post #7

> The work started at the end of November 2020, just days after Stockholm’s Board of Education was hit with a 4 million SEK ($456,658) GDPR fine for “serious shortcomings” in the Skolplattform. Integritetsskyddsmyndigheten, Sweden’s data regulator, had found serious flaws in the platform that had exposed the data of hundreds of thousands of parents, children, and teachers. In some cases, people’s personal information…

I don't really understand the fine, its a board of education so are the funds taken from public school funds? Seems wrong to take money from a school district.

One would hope their contract with the developer assigns the liability to them

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

#168

Post by ClumsyPilot »

This is not a story about failure - it's common and unremarcable both in government and corporate.

This story is amazing because it shows society at it's best, people got together organised and resolved a common problem.

They did this without corporate or government power structures. We should remember importance of this third institution and cherish it, it gets little lime in the limelight, and it's the most precious of them all.

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

#169

Post by ftrobro »

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #156
ftrobro wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It puts a target on the back of anyone that earns a lot of money but doesn't live in a high security bunker. Sometimes foreign crminals make a quick tour in Sweden, rob a couple of rich people in their homes and then get out of the country in the same day, with no risk of ever being caught. Public records and GPS navigation make this all too easy. Senior citizens are also targeted by criminals in Sweden, because the…

"Puts a target on the back of anyone that earns a lot of money but doesn't live in a high security bunker" I find this unconvincing - firstly, most crime happens in poor neighbourhoods. Secondly, you don't need to know someone's salary to tell apart a rich neighbourhood or house from a poor one. Thirdly, high salary does not mean you have anything to steal, my friend earns a lot but all him money is in mortgage, stoc…

> most crime happens in poor neighbourhoods

That's kind of my point. Let's say you live in a poor neighborhood but do some stock trading and suddenly make a large profit. That will be shown in public records, it's not just salaries that are public. You now have a target on your back. Criminals will not come to your house looking for a laptop, they will come looking for you, putting a gun to your head telling you to transfer your assets to them.

> it means police are not doing their job well enough

Principles are nice, but pragmatism is better at keeping you alive...

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

#170

Post by kalleboo »

em500 wrote: post #42
castis wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you go into more detail on why you think this?

I'm not the OP, and not so opinionated. But (as the parent of an elementary school kid) I can see where the sentiment is coming from. I'm not familiar at all with this Swedish Skolplattform, but from the description in the article, it sounds to me like a solution (or maybe a city budget) in search of a problem. It's pretty unclear what the purpose and scope of this Skolplattform is. The article description of the ope…

> school website

Developing a website isn't much different from an app these days with the React monstrosities being created

> email lists

Where everything gets caught in spam filters

> paper brochures

Which get lost

My kids' daycare switched from paper-and-telephone to an app and it's been all positive. The idea isn't bad.

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