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The device has been used to combat anti-social behaviour
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There are no plans in England to ban the use of devices which emit a high-pitched sound to disperse groups of teenagers, the government has said. But it stressed the Mosquito devices, which can cause discomfort to youngsters’ ears, should be “a last resort” against anti-social behaviour.
The children’s commissioner and other critics want a ban, saying the gadget is indiscriminate in who it targets.
Some stores say the devices can be useful against anti-social youths.
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 We will continue to tackle the underlying problems through better neighbourhood policing 
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In a statement issued after the calls for a ban, the government said: “‘Mosquito alarms’ are not banned and the government has no plans to do so.
“Obviously no-one would want to have to use a device like this, and it should very much be seen as a last resort.
“We will continue to tackle the underlying problems through better neighbourhood policing, giving young people alternative things to do in their spare time and, where necessary, using the powers we have put in place to prevent anti-social behaviour.”
Human rights
The device has proved popular with councils wanting to tackle nuisance problems, and some 3,500 are estimated to be in use in England.
It works on the basis that a person’s ability to hear high frequencies tends to decline once they reach their 20s.
But a new campaign called “Buzz off”, led by the children’s commissioner for England and backed by groups including civil liberties group Liberty, is calling for them to be banned.
Critics say the “Mosquito” targets all young people and not just those who may be causing a nuisance.
They say its use to disperse gangs is a breach of children’s human rights.
Sir Al Aynsley-Green, children’s commissioner for England, said children and young people were being demonised, “creating a dangerous and widening divide between the young and the old”.
In Scotland, work towards a ban on the use of Mosquito devices has been under way since last year.
Scotland’s commissioner for children and young people is pursuing the issue with the Scottish government, the police, supermarkets and the manufacturers.
But Association of Convenience Stores chief executive James Lowman said the body would “fully support” the use of the device as a “last resort” in situations where staff and customers were intimidated by anti-social youths.
Mr Lowman, whose association represents 33,000 local shops, said: “Removing the ability to use tools like Mosquitoes will make life harder for retailers that face real problems.
“It would also reinforce the retailer’s view that, whilst many in government are quick to blame the retailer for anti-social problems created by gangs of youths, they are unwilling to make those same young people accountable for their own actions.”
Dear Readers,
Slideshow: Eighth Grader Suspended For Hair Color
‘Buzz’ simulated 
April 27, 2008
Miseducation
Posted by Cassie Frequelz under austin, texas, Blogroll, Commentary, current events, education, kids, Political, Politics, school lunch, schools, students, Teen, testing, Texas, youth[13] Comments
This is TAKS week here in the Texas schools. As a 10th grader, I take four tests this year. Some years we take two and other years three or four, but this is the big year that determines how well our school does compared to other schools. For us as students, every year matters because certain classes are open or closed for the following year depending on whether we pass or fail the tests. But for the school, 10th grade test scores are the ones that decide how well the whole school does. Some schools can even close if their scores are still low.
The Texas Education Agency has told the Austin school district that it needs to use the word “probable” — not “possible” — when referring to the closure of Johnston High School, district officials said.
The shift in verbiage was made at the suggestion of state officials who are part of Johnston’s oversight team because they wanted to underscore the urgency of the situation at the school in East Austin.
Agency officials have said the school, which has received “unacceptable” ratings for the past four years, will be closed or put under alternative management if it fails to achieve an acceptable rating this year.
Under the state’s accountability system, schools are rated “academically unacceptable” if they don’t meet target graduation rates and goals on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.
Are we being deliberately undereducated or miseducated? Is our whole generation being purposefully denied essential elements of a meaningful education as a byproduct of spending all of our schooling preparing for tests? Is that an accident?
Here’s the disturbing part. The bureaucrats don’t care if WE improve individually from year to year. They don’t care if our CLASS improves. They only care that we do better than last year’s 10th grade, even if they were a bunch of idiots or a bunch of screw-ups or a bunch of genii. By extension, BETTER doesn’t mean that our average is higher than last year’s class. It means that a larger percent of white kids pass (70%) than last year; a larger percent of black kids, a larger percent of immigrants, a larger percent of girls, a larger percent of poor kids, a larger percent of left-handed kids, and a larger percent of soccer players who only eat ice cream for breakfast.
This means that kids like me who get 90% or 99% every time only spend a THIRD of our school time learning how to answer the test questions and regurgitate essays. The poor kids, meanwhile, who got ONLY 60%-80% spend ALL their time on nothing but test practice. Kids in honors or pre-AP or advanced classes learn some other material and get interesting projects from time to time, like in-class debates, short story assignments and geometry construction projects, but the kids in academic or regular classes have every single test look like a TAKS question. That is not an exaggeration.
Last year, my test scores were all above 92%. I could go down by 10 points in every single subject and no one would care. If I went down 20 points, my brother would wring my neck and I’d probably have to drop some honors classes and possibly lose the chance for AP US History, but the state and the government STILL wouldn’t care. I would be within acceptable parameters.
Our school would still show improvement even if every single kid in honors right now dropped to 71% as long as one kid whose older sibling failed last year passed this year. That’s crazy!
Clearly they don’t care whether we as individuals pass as long as the scenario I have presented makes my high school look good. What’s the point? Could it be that the point really is to dumb down yet another generation; to keep us from learning about the Constitution and our rights. Only in understanding them both may we learn when our republic is at its BEST.