Columnist Gary Brown still lives in fear of his "permanent record":
As it turns out, those mediocre math scores still might haunt me down the road.Posted by kswygert at September 21, 2005 10:43 AM“We were going to issue you a platinum card,” a credit card company might tell me in a letter, “but we notice from your permanent record that in your sophomore year of high school you got a ‘C’ in algebra, so we just don’t think you have the math skills to make the minimum monthly payment ...”
Right. I don’t think a “D” or even an “F” could prevent me from being “pre-approved” for two or three credit cards a week. Still, it seems that my permanent record from school nevertheless exists. An article in Sunday’s Repository reported that students’ permanent records continue to be stored in paper files, microfilm or digital disks...
No, I don’t fear that others will have the urge to try to tap into my permanent record. What I’m worried about is that someday I will see it.
Maybe I’ll be bored. Maybe I’ll be at some age when I want to tie up the loose ends of my life by renewing my knowledge of my past. I’ll ask to see my permanent record. I’ll scan my mediocre school grades. I’ll note my more or less average standardized test scores. I’ll look up my IQ — my God, how could it be so low?
Just when I’m feeling good about myself — I can, after all, remember jokes I hear at parties and most of the scores I see on Sportscenter — I’ll find out that, all this time, I’ve been incredibly stupid.
That kind of thing shouldn’t be recorded permanently.