Safe and Secure

Student 853267 woke up at precisely 6:30 a.m. to the shrill shrieking of his alarm. He groaned loudly and stretched. Grabbing the offending alarm clock, he ripped the cord from the outlet and pitched the clock at the wall as hard as he could, wincing at the smashing sound it made when it shattered and fell to the floor. “Damn,” he said loudly, “now I need to get another stupid alarm clock.” He dragged himself out of bed and stumbled into the shower, hoping that he would be able to stay awake at school. He had worked most of the night on an enormous calculus assignment and had only gotten an hour and a half of sleep. When he got out of the shower, he dressed in his regulation blue and silver uniform, with his number printed on the back. He grabbed something from the fridge for breakfast, not paying much attention to what it actually was. Still chewing, he picked up his regulation backpack, staggering under the heavy load of books and binders. He looked in the hall mirror and adjusted the backpack so the “67” in his “name” was no longer obscured. Grabbing his standardized ID tag off the hall table, he hung it around his neck. Then, having finished getting ready, he walked to school.

As he passed through the barbed wire fences that surrounded the perimeter of the high school, student 853267’s ID tag beeped, notifying him that the various trackers and monitors that it contained had been activated. After he walked through the gate that had opened in the fence, it slammed shut behind him, locking securely to make sure that absolutely no one who did not belong on the grounds would gain entry. On his way onto the school grounds, he spotted his friend, Student 853408. He approached his friend and greeted him, “Hey, 408!” His friend replied, and they talked briefly before proceeding their separate ways into the belly of the school. 853267 walked quickly through the halls. His shoes clicked slightly on the hard floors as he passed the squads of security personnel that patrolled the school, and he finally arrived at his locker. He picked up what he would need for the day and left, hurrying through the hallways to his first class. On the way, he passed several students talking quietly among themselves and another student who was being reprimanded a security guard.

“Empty your pockets! Give me that iPod. No personal items are allowed on school grounds. Hurry up so you won’t be late for class.”

853267 overheard bits of conversation as students passed through the corridors. Boys and girls kept their voices low and glanced around continuously looking for security guards.

“Did you hear? A security guard overheard 673 complaining about his ID tag yesterday and the police showed up ten minutes into class to arrest him. They will let him go tomorrow, after they finish tattooing his ID number onto his forehead.”

“Seniors were choking 632 with the lanyard on his ID tag yesterday. He almost passed out. Security claims that they don’t know who did it, but I happen to know for a fact that they track our locations at all times.”

“Student 847523 modified her school uniform. She was dragged out of class by security, and no one has seen her since.”

“ID tags…”

“Student number such-and-such…”

“New school rules and requirements…”

“Identical regulation uniforms and backpacks…”

“Big Brother is watching you…”

On and on it went. Every student he heard was discussing something or other related to the school. Kids were complaining about the harsh regulations, worrying about invasions of privacy, and bemoaning the loss of individuality. But he, student 853267, knew better. He didn’t see anything wrong with a little bit of conformity. He didn’t have to think about what to wear as long as he had his regulation uniform. He didn’t have to think about how to behave when there were all these rules to make it clear. And best of all was his omnipresent ID tag that let security track his every movement. What safety and security it represented! How unimportant were those little losses students were discussing when compared to all the benefits that uniformity and constant supervision offered.

As he walked to class, student 853267 felt smug and complacent. That is until he glanced down and noticed the frayed end of his lanyard dangling from where his ID tag should have been.

“Red alert! Red alert! Unidentified person in corridor 6A! Security guards and attack dogs to corridor 6A!”

Beads of sweat dripped from 853267’s forehead. His heart began to pound. A swarm of guards and snarling dogs surrounded him.

“Wait! Wait!” he cried as they closed in. “It’s all a mistake! Just an accident! I didn’t mean to lose it!”

Unfortunately, there was no room for error in this safe and secure world of the student formerly known as 853267.