To think education is a privilege and removing a child from that without damn good reason is shocking?

[MBT1987]

So, in the latest episode of "Why am I being fined for breaking the law?" AKA "Yet Another Unauthorised Absence", we've had:

"I'm going to tell my kids to lie"
"I'd vote Labour if they abolished compulsory education" (Fun fact - the Education Act 2006 was passed under Labour)
"My children with both parents are disadvantaged as opposed to single-parent families!"
"What are they really going to do if I break the law and don't accept the fine?" (Hint - prosecute)
"My school are lovely, so they won't mind" (Then ask in advance?)

I could go on.

There are some absolute howlers coming from this place, and it's sickening. Parents are encouraging kids to play truant and lie about it.

I don't care if I become Social Pariah of the Week as a result of this. I'll just have to be lonely on my little patch of moral high ground. Anyone is welcome to join me.

Is this a taat and a current one at that.

Current thread on here - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/1991048-AIBU-to-be-angry-about-attendance-charge-from-school

::puts thermal vest on::

I don't get what's so confusing. If it's important enough, the head can still grant authorisation. If it's the only time both parents can take leave to spend time together as a family, why is it always the children bunking off and not the adults? And why do people feel entitled to a foreign holiday?

Go get yourself a sheet of A4. If you can manage to fill both sides of it with stuff you remember from your 12 years of formal schooling then I'll agree with you.

Fining otherwise functional families for having one holiday a year and pretending it's about them missing crucial lessons is madness.

education isn't a privelege

Why not post on that thread? Were your opinions too important?

Saucyjack I agree

If the head authorises it, if applied for in advance, does that mean a fine won't be issued?

Why start a separate thread though?

Bit daft.

I don't know what thread or threads or whatever you're on about, but talking generally, It is a shame that education does not appear to be valued by all.

My husband is Kenyan and his parents sweated blood to get their kids (10!) an education. My god was it important to them, adults and kids!

But here, I think because it is free (well, you know what I mean), compulsory and all that, it is taken completely for granted.

I suppose though that's largely irrelevant because it doesn't change anything about people's lives and views here no matter how desperate children are for education in other parts of the world. It's just me who can't help thinking my god, there are kids who trek through rivers and across canyons to get an education! here

So if parent's receive a fine and pay within a certain time does this mean they don't have a Police record.
People just keep saying they'll pay a fine, so just wondered if its as simple as that?

meh.

I take dd1 out of school to go on holiday. and will continue to do so. her school don't mind, but we may face fines at some point over it. so be it.

in dd1's case, a holiday is genuinely a good learning experience for her (she has severe ASD, and there are so many daily targets in packing up, beibng out of routine, travelling, being somewhere different etc etc) and is generally considered a good thing.

we also need to try to avoid the highest peak times, so that placers are not so stupidly overcrowded that she cannot access them.

yes, her education is a privilege. yes, she undoubtedly benefits from it. yes, we'll pay the fine if we have to.

dd2's school also don't mind, btw, and we have taken her out on occasion too (private school, so no lea fines there), although we try to avoid this as she doesn't have the totally individual curiculum dd1 has, so obviously misses stuff.

"education isn't a privelege"

"Education is a privilege."

0/10 - see me.

I think the op started this thread in response to a number of threads on here, it just so happened the current thread has just appeared.

By the way orangedog education is obviously not a privilege you took advantage of as you don't seem able to spell it.

If you remembered it when you were in the A level exam hall, Saucyjack, then it's done it's job.

Well, to be fair, strictly speaking, education is not a privilege if you look at this country in isolation precisely because it is a) compulsory and b) available to all and a privilege is something that is a special right or advantage only available to a select group.

So in the UK, education is a right.

But looking globally, education is a privilege denied to or not available to many, many children so we are certainly privileged in the UK to have the right to an education.

OP, post on the thread in question.

BTW PiperRose.Pointing out other posters spelling mistakes makes you look like an idiot.

For what it's worth, I started this thread because I'm genuinely narked about the state of play here. Every few days, there's someone here moaning about how unfair it is that they're being punished for "doing nothing wrong" - the crime committed in question is failure to secure regular attendance. As far as I'm aware, paying the fine makes it disappear there and then - only going to court would provide conviction and a criminal record. I could be wrong, of course. The best person to ask would be one of the Mumsnet faithful in possession of a letter about it.

If I want to take my children out of school for a holiday then I will, my children my business.

We visit family in other countries & the cost during school holiday time is often prohibitive.

I'm in Scotland though and have never heard of people getting fined.

I think it is undervalued. I don't think going on a week holiday will damage their results, but it will show a lack of respect and value for education, which imo is damaging for the child.

I remember quite a lot from my schooling.

reading, writing and maths are only the beginning!

Education is extremely important to me and I value it highly but I do not feel I need to ask another grown up whether it is alright for me to make judgements about whether I send my child to school or not. Thankfully I do not live in the UK and I do not have to. The idea that the state have a role in that for all citizens and not just the losers who remain completely unaffected by these types of laws since they do not give a shit about them would make my blood boil if I did live there.

YABVU yes it is a privilege and a right but that does not give the government the right to fine parents for choosing to take a few days here and there which they feel will benefit their child.

My children took three weeks off school last Christmas but one...with the head's blessing. We visited Australia and she said it was more than worth the catching up because it was an amazing chance for them to see another culture.

I also think that when they government is willing to tell holiday camps etc that they are not to charge extra during holidays then they can think about fining parents.

OK MBT .....
(and over-looking for a moment that you're breaking the rules about a Fred about a thread )

I think education is a right as well as a privilege (see book "Malala" in my dd's bedroom or any good bookshop)

I think it should be a partnership between home and school based on mutual respect, compassion, and communication.

I much preferred the old rules (and yes, made use of them on one occasion when dd was in reception, and two recent half-days for which interestingly I was also given authorised leave before half-terms to enable dd to take part in other activities) because I think they much better reflected and supported that sense of partnership between home and school.

See other thread for further thoughts

Oh I am sorryTrampledUnderfoot, I hadn't been informed someone had made you queen of Mumsnet. The op is allowed to start a thread as she/he wishes.

If I'm an idiot for pointing out spelling and grammatical errors then there are a fair few idiots on here. I was simply pointing out the irony.

YABVU. It's a privilege. Not a prison.