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English Works

Effects of Implementing

the Smart Card System at School
5B Lee Ka Hei, Olivia

In this day and age, we can use smart cards to do everything at school, including
monitoring our attendance, making an electronic payment, controlling access and keeping
a record of contact details, exam grades and medical records. The new smart card system
can make our school life so simple. However, there are still things about this scheme that are
undesirable.
On the one hand, using the smart card is convenient. It saves our time to keep records
and organize our personal information. It is much better than keeping cumbersome documents.
In addition to the convenience that the smart cards provide us, the system is also efficient.
We can do everything at school with one card like making a payment and checking the record
of our information whenever we want. We do not need to refer to our report cards or other
documents. It is cost-effective and useful, isn’t it?

On the other hand, our privacy is under threat. Smart cards are small and light that
make them portable. However, if a forgetful user fails to log out or misplace the card, the hi-
tech system which provides convenience to students will soon be vulnerable to criminals, For
example, if a card is lost and not reported, our privacy faces the increasing risk of theft. In
addition, unlike credit cards, we cannot make an electronic payment, check the exam grades
or keep record of our attendance if we lose our smart cards. The process of applying for a new
smart card may take at least a week, it is definitely inconvenient.

On balance, the disadvantages of the new smart card scheme outweigh the advantages
since the security risk and the inconveniences caused could create more problems. Apparently,
the new smart card scheme is not suitable for our school students.

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