Talking Points: Should it be your right to have a good-looking photo on your HKID?
- Students share their opinion on whether everyone should be guaranteed a nice picture on their identification cards
- Having a good photo could improve confidence, but the quest for the perfect pic could increase wait times
Do you like the picture on your ID card?Yes, we should have that right. Many people are unhappy about the restrictions that have been placed on ID card photos. For example, we need to show our eyebrows and ears. As a result, many people have to trim their hair when taking ID photos.
In addition, we can’t replace our ID cards unless we lose them. So anyone who has a “terrible” picture of themselves on their ID cards tends to be embarrassed to show them to other people.
Therefore, I think we should have the right to use a good-looking photo on our ID cards.
Angel Ng, 13
Talking points: What are your hopes for the new year?
We only have very few chances to take photos for our ID card during our lifetime.
The ID card is a symbol of ourselves. If we don’t look good in the photo, it suggests we don’t respect ourselves.
So it’s important the photo is as good as possible so we feel proud.
Lun Cheuk-huen, 13
No, I don’t think so. Nowadays many people use Photoshop to improve their looks. For example, the software can make a person who weighs 100kg look very thin, or someone very plain look like a handsome popstar.
If everyone edits their photo to make it more beautiful, their ID card may not represent what they really look like. This can cause a lot of problems. Some people may take advantage of this to commit crimes.
So it is not important to have a good-looking photo on your ID card.
Kelly Guan, 13
Talking points: What’s the worst thing about Zoom lessons?
If we had that right, students would be able to change their looks and teachers would not be able to identify them by looking at their ID cards. And if other students and teachers saw our ID cards, how would they feel?
If students are spending so much time worrying about their photo, they will have no time to think about their education.
We should not be given the right to choose a good-looking photo of ourselves for our ID cards. It would have a negative impact on our lives.
Leung Hiu-ching, 12
If everyone had this right, it would cause a lot of problems. For example, people would want to take many photos until they “look good”. There would be huge queues and valuable time would be wasted. That’s just not fair. Taking just one photo for our ID card is good enough.
Andy Poon, 15
FYI: Our inspiration for this ‘Talking Points’ comes from this article, in which a student buys a fake ID to replace his ‘ugly’ photo!
Our topics always get a lot of responses. Check out what other students had to say and join the conversation at scmp.com/yp.
Next week’s question: Is social media right to ban US President Donald Trump? Send your answers to [email protected] before midnight on Monday. Don’t forget to include “Talking Points” in the subject line, as well as your name, age and school.