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.

Myself i'm not british. In my homeland whenever we missed school, the teacher would just tell the chapters of books and numbers of exercises... So much for catch up.
It can be so simple, but it has to be made so difficult.

Dd and my grandmother (probably) shared the same genetic condition.

When my gran was ill and overwhelmed by her condition in the early 1900's she was sent to stay with relatives in the countryside until she had made a full recovery.

When the same thing happened to dd she was forced to go to school until she was unable to move at all for pain, and even then she was hounded by EWO's until she had a breakdown. Some privilege!

To those saying 'it's the law, you're making your child break the law', homosexuality was until fairly recently illegal in Britain and still is in many places. Simply because it's a law does not make it fair or sensible:

It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament.

It is an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British monarch upside-down.

In Liverpool, it is illegal for a woman to be topless except as a clerk in a tropical fish store.

Mince pies cannot be eaten on Christmas Day.

In Scotland, if someone knocks on your door and requires the use of your toilet, you must let them enter.

In the UK a pregnant woman can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants, including in a policeman's helmet.

The head of any dead whale found on the British coast automatically becomes the property of the King, and the tail of the Queen.

It is illegal not to tell the tax man anything you do not want him to know, but legal not to tell him information you do not mind him knowing.

It is illegal to enter the Houses of Parliament in a suit of armour.

In the city of York it is legal to murder a Scotsman within the ancient city walls, but only if he is carrying a bow and arrow.

^ Found this particularly interesting!^

Sparkletshirt - I personally have cut out part of the jawbone of a dead whale (alovely job the coastguard gets to do) in order to send it to the natural history museum for study in the name of the crown..... that law is still in use and provides the world with many facts about the health and different species of whales around this coast.

The policeman's helmet thing is a myth, many times debunked....

'In Scotland, if someone knocks on your door and requires the use of your toilet, you must let them enter. '

bookmarked for future reference during Ocado threads

Sinister its OK..I was bullied at school too and I know sometimes things can stir up feelings. :)

That's very interesting to know ShadowOfTheDay. I was trying to think why anybody, pregnant or otherwise would pee in a police helmet. In case you fall over if you squat too far down? Maybe it is a law but getting a policeman to agree is a bit more difficult? The sentiment remains the same though. Just because it's a law doesn't mean it's sensible or fair. There have been many good points made by forces families allowed holidays out with school holidays and families whose children miss out when teacher is training/sick/can't afford school outing. Is the real problem class sizes are so large? 40 sets of homework take much longer to mark than 25/30 and so many enriching and educational facilities are being removed outside school, libraries, youths clubs, sports centres, that teachers are ever more thinly spread before you even take into account class size. So they can't cope with children having to ask questions whether they were off on holiday or not?