Those of you who are (like me) of a certain age may well remember the Permanent Record Cards of our youth.
Ah, the fear and trembling inherent in just hearing the threat: if you continue to [fill in the blank with some reprehensible behavior or other, like talking out of turn in class], it will go down on your Permanent Record Card!
And then, of course, your life will hardly be worth living. You will never go to college. You will never get a job. No one will ever love you, especially your parents. You will have to wear that mark of Cain on your forehead and that Scarlet Letter on your chest for life, and all the perfumes of Arabia will not be able to wash away the reeking stench of shame.
So my question is: where is it? You can get hold of your FBI files, and even your KGB and Stasi files, so why not those Permanent Record Cards?
Previously a lifelong Democrat, born in New York and living in New England, surrounded by liberals on all sides, I've found myself slowly but surely 
November 7th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
They are in a big box in a warehouse next to other possibly notable items like the Arc of the Covenant. Don’t worry. They are safe and confidential where they will remain, never seeing the light of day, unless you do something stupid like Joe the Plumber. Rule of man instead of rule of law is going to suck.
November 7th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Oh, they’re out there all right. They call them Facebook now.
^_^
November 7th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
Obama is making a list, checking it twice…
November 7th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Being ‘of that certain age’ just thinking about the terror of that statement can bring shivers! It was, at the time, the ultimate threat.
November 7th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
I’m an oldie, but never heard of such a card. However, I inadvertently found out how to deal with such when, as a 5th or 6th grader, I accidentally dropped my report card–which I had tucked under my arm–in the boy’s bathroom urinal, and watched in horror as my grades–written in those days with steel pen and real ink–rise off the cardboard page, float away on the water and disappear.
I had a lot o’ ‘splainin to do that evening.
November 7th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
I recall seeing a glance of mine when I was in my high school counselor’s office one day. I wonder if it is still around in some cardboard box.
November 7th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
My permanent record probably shows that I got caught throwing a snowball in second grade and was put IN ISOLATION.
I still cringe thinking about it.
Neo and others . . . Did you have to put your FEET FLAT ON THE FLOOR? My rebellion against that command probably started me off on my personal path to “non-conformity,” as it used to be called.
November 7th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
They’re in here somewhere.
November 7th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
Sorry, link didn’t work. Here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sweetjuniper/2066073879/in/set-72157603302647339/
November 7th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
I don’t remember any such cards. Maybe they were a NY thing?
November 7th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
They’re probably in the same location as the people who removed the “Do Not Remove Under Penalty of Law” tag from their mattress.
November 7th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
chuck: they were definitely a NY thing, but not just a NY thing. I’ve met people who grew up in other states who remember them as well. But I’m thinking it wasn’t something that all the states had.
November 7th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
I’m afraid that the permanent record card is going to be a feature of the PelosiCare bill. It will create a gigantic government database of medical and affiliated information which will be maintained by the government to help keep track of everyone.
November 7th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
In my little corner of PA, it was simply known as the terrifying “permanent record” (no mention of a card).
I assumed it was a vast government database into which the nuns logged every bad grade and other infraction.
Doesn’t Ralphie mention his “permanent record” in A Christmas Story?
November 7th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
Sounds like a baby-boomer thing….
By about 1975, nobody really cared what we did ‘cuz they were busy screwing each other and getting stoned.
Now that they are done with that, the boomers care very deeply about my children, my healthcare, my environment, my food, my recycling, the R-value of my walls, my light bulbs….
November 7th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
I’m vaguely remembering an anti-drug commercial that featured a tombstone, calling that one’s “permanent record”.
November 7th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
I remember hearing about it vaguely in Minnesota. I feel that this card is perhaps a urban legend, a very clever one, and never really existed, but we all think it’s out there. Who do we call about the Permanent Record Card? What a hoot. I’m sure there’s no such thing, but it sured scared the daylights out of a lot of us.
November 7th, 2009 at 11:43 pm
Hey, Gray—I’m a boomer, and I don’t care.
November 7th, 2009 at 11:46 pm
CV: In my day (pre-computer) it was a card. And it existed. I actually saw it once.
After computers, perhaps it was a database. Or imaginary.
November 8th, 2009 at 12:07 am
Hey, Gray—I’m a boomer, and I don’t care.
I’m in a bad mood and just can’t get into boomer nostalgia tonight. I’m sorry.
I guess the “permanent-record” thingey is a quaint piece of Americana….
After years of school reform theories, the only thing the little dope-smoking bastards I was locked up with in middle school feared was a knife.
November 8th, 2009 at 2:58 am
Actually, your permanent record is now maintained by obscure companies such as Choicepoint and Acxiom and others, companies many have never heard of but track every thing you do or have ever done and keep a “permanent record” everything you buy or do unless you use cash, even then there may be video records of the transaction, what used to be a threat in grade school has now become reality:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232/?video=1193494033&play=1
November 8th, 2009 at 11:28 am
Membership in Omeaga will always look good on Your Permanent Record..
For a copy of Your Permanent Record send $25 Check or Money Order to:
Ohio Department of Your Permanent Record
205 N. High Street, Room 512
Columbus, Ohio, 43201
November 8th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Your permanent record didn’t exist but sadly those of our age have been trying to brand kids since they got a little power. Worse they now dope up the troublemakers.
So while our permanent records were just a story told to scare good little girls and boys, today’s kids have sex offender registers, psych evals and arrest records for rough housing. And that doesn’t count the taser records and strip searches.
November 8th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
I just ran across this news story about parents fearing that a food fight incident will follow their kids around.
I remember when schools didn’t call the cops for every little problem. Of course, being lined up outside the principal’s office waiting for a paddling wasn’t any fun either.
November 8th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
It may be a boomer thing; I don’t know, but I definitely heard the words “this is going in your permanent record” from my teachers in the sixties.
George Carlin used the phrase on one of his records, probably the one where he talked about “Sister Mary Discipline with the steel ruler.” I had her, too, in third grade, although her name was Sister Mary Francis and she stood about five foot two. She absolutely terrified even the J.D.s I hung with.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:02 am
The fact that you asked this will go on your Permanent Record.