Whoah! WTF?!

[Mister James]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/09/22/ntruants22.xml

I've always been vaguely approving of attempts to keep kids in education, but since when did schools get the right to issue fines to parents, and then take them to court?!

That's obscene!

I'm not a father, but I'd fight such a penalty all the way through the justice system on the grounds of it being my 'human rights' to raise my children how I wished, and be responsible for punishing them as I wished.

I'd always assumed that it was simple a case of long-term truants being investigated and the parents addressed, but this looks far more sinister and invasive.
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>Soultrader Mister James, I bet you are a copper
>Bazza Wow. Eyes like a shithouse rat, you...

[carvell]

The kids have got it coming to them if they can't hide from two people in bright flurescent jackets with "TRAUANCY PATROL" written on in big letters!
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Yamaha TDM 850

[zaknafien]

[Misc]

School should be like college, you get treated like an adult & you're actually allowed outside the gates.

[G]

Seems fairly reasonable to me that if parents want their children going through the normal schooling system, they ensure their children attend it correctly.

If parents have chosen an alternate method (ie home schooling), then fair enough - but I don't think these people are going to be targetting children who are being home schooled.

[Mister James]

[instigator]

I think they are quite within their rights to impose fines on the parents. If you want to home school them, home school them properly. Don't just 'let' them bunk off any day they like.

What would you suggest they do to tackle the problem of truancy? One that doesn't involve vast expense of course.

[Mister James]

How about not giving SCHOOLS powers over our wallets?

[Mister James]

[G]

[instigator]

They don't have powers over our wallets though.

If you raise your kid 'right' then there is no problem. Raise them to be a little hoodlum and let them skidge and you get fined for it. I think it's a great idea although am open to other suggestions of how to tackle it. The part about the fee increasing is quite out of order.

Who issues the fines exactly? The police, the council, the school themselves?

[Mister James]

[Mister James]

[instigator]

[G]

Worrying in the first place to me, but the way it was presented suggest some 'downplaying' of the figures.

[zaknafien]

I was absent for around 80% of my school years and fining my parents would have made no difference at all.
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02 Firestorm.

[angryjonny]

Ok. I pay my taxes, and that buys me a place in a school for my children. If my children aren't showing up to school, then I expect to be notified and it is then up to ME to decide how I ensure MY kids get an education.

The wellbeing of my children is my business and not the business of some high-on-power civil servant who has X penalty notices per week to issue to meet targets. It is up to me to make sure that my kids get a good education, and I will do that, but I do not expect to be punished if they decide they're not going.

There is a difference between having a right to an education and being forced into it. Having a right to something also includes the right to refuse it. I'm not going to talk about whether refusing that right is wise or not, but people need to recognise that forcing others to do what you think is best for them is not always in their own best interests.

It's not a government that care about kids getting an education. It's a government that cares about being seen to care about kids getting an education - as is the case in so many other aspects of our lives.

[G]

I pay my taxes for your kids to go through education.
I would be happier about this if it did the desired job of making this country a better place in the future.

Seems fair that if your kids are disrupting the education system, you should make up for it.
(And yes, I'm pretty sure it can be shown that truanting kids do disrupt the education system and cause a general 'loss' to the system.)

[angryjonny]

I don't have kids. They're theoretical children at the moment. I am currently footing the bill for the education of others' children as well. But I don't expect to see parents hauled up in court if their children failed to attend.

I attended school all day every day but somewhere between 10 and 20 percent of my form of 25ish kids would truant on a daily basis. To be honest, I was glad to be rid of them. My school day was improved if they didn't show up.

[instigator]

[angryjonny]

So... what? Your idea of school is prison for kids? Let's keep them away from society until they're old enough to not be a threat to us any more? That's not what school is there for.

And please don't put words into my mouth.

I'm not condoning truancy here. I believe that it is important to get an education and I'm very grateful for mine. But... it's is not up to the state to dictate that children *have* to go to school and to punish the parents if they don't. It is up to the parents to ensure their kids are attending school and getting the education that they are paying for. If a parent doesn't care about their kids' education then that is probably the tip of the iceberg of child abuse - so go looking for that. Don't just slap a blanket £50 fine on them without even thinking about it.

[hellkat]

[instigator]

[Kickstart]

[pwntifex]