School identification cards, or IDs, are seen at almost every school in the US and all schools in the William. S. Hart School District, but should they be mandatory? Should restrictions around them tighten or loosen? Tightening the restrictions and the overall push for a “safer” school isn’t being taken care of effectively. The strictness around ID cards doesn’t do anything because making a fraudulent ID card is incredibly easy.

Even though the TSA is a celebrated example of heightened security measures, it is flat-out ineffective, no doubt about it. The fact that they let 95% of contraband and other dangerous equipment through demonstrates that increased security, in the form of identification-checking and shuffling people through a bottleneck to allow the security team to check them using metal detectors and their eyes, is unproductive A more effective and overall better way to ensure a safe school is to inform students and staff about potential crimes and threats.

In addition, the increased hassle of ID cards benefits no one and makes the security process that much more challenging and annoying for students, who already have enough on their plate.

The only time when checking IDs has any merit is during lunch to prevent underclassmen from leaving. However, this is also easy to bypass since the supervisors at the gate don’t closely inspect the IDs, making it easy to cover the picture on the ID card with your hand.

The simple truth of the matter is that the concerns surrounding ID cards most likely won’t be acknowledged. Their senseless restrictions will most likely persist until there is a change in administration and a complete reform of the education system in the US.