If your 17 year old wanted to take a day off school to attend the student funding march on Wed would you condone it

[mrswoodentop]

What it says really,ds1 ,17 ,very politically aware wants to attend.Its a school day,independent school so I need to write to say we are authorising him to have a day off.

Dh violently against ,very angry with me for even thinking about it ,treats ds like a naughty little boy.I am more ambivelent,I am proud of him for feeling strongly (dh thinks that because he wouldn't go on his own that he just wants a day off school with his friends),I think that this issue is going to have a profound effect on his life and in a way I am quite proud of him for wanting to have a voice, also proud because he has thought carefully about the issues and wants to hear both sides and yes he wants to experience something big ,something new,to be there if you like.But and and its a big but he has to have day off school,he's not a definate oxbridge candidate ,his grades aren't perfect he can ill afford to miss a lot of school,but one day? I don't know,dh has said no and he's agreed so I suppose its over but perhaps we are doing him a diservice (sorry not sure of spelling)

Yes, I'd definitely let him go. I was at uni by the time I was 17- something that might not have happened if tuition fees had been around then

MrsWT - I think you need to talk to DH (not right now though!) and try to make him understand how DS needs his support and his belief in him - it's so important. DH needs to appreciate that he is lucky that DS gives a rats arse about what he thinks.

It is hard when you have a 'very well developed sense of justice' because it's hard to do things/tow the line - when something isn't fair or just.

Mrs WT - we need more people with "a well developed sense of justice" - GOOD ON YOU & YOUR SON! I work with students and many of them are just so unquestioning and intimidated by authority. I'm THRILLED that some young people are taking an interest in politics and wanting to change the world.

DDs 6th form college has given them all absence permission to go on this march.

I was going to go (student @ uni) but I have to go on work placement instead

Yes i would.
I'd be pleased that he has an opinion.Good for him.

No, I don't think it's a good idea to go. It may be that he wants a day off with his friends, and they may get diverted into the pub. What will happen on the next protest day, will he want to have that day off as well?

"DDs 6th form college has given them all absence permission to go on this march."

Ho Chi Minh used to allow students to have a day off, when he wanted them to protest about something that served his purpose as well.

I would, I think.

I think you are right to be proud of him :)

Oh my. No need to go to the shed for a banner. DS and I have spent a happy half hour on s mac and it will be printed tomorrow! Fair enough tho I do need to go to b and q for some supports.

He sounds like an absolutely fantastic young lad. I'd let him go and be massively proud of him. While I can see his father's point, surely an experience like this and the knowledge that he had his say on such a huge issue is going to be of more value to him in the grand scheme of things than just another school day? There's more to education than just school.

Though I think the whole fee debate is a done deal and this march pointless...I would still let either of mine go.

At 17 they are young adults. They are entitled to become politically active.

Yes, at 17 they are not children who must go to school - it is up to them to choose what is more important.

This is why I prefer independent sixth forms to sixth-formers being 'in school'. Better preparation for the students and the parents for the transition between schoolchild and adult.

I agree Litchick and ds shows his maturity I think because he understands this ,he still nevertheless wants to hear the speakers and play a part because as he says how could he look himself in the eyes or complain in future if he hadn't made the effort to be involved in the debate

Oh Claig, trust you to turn up and rain on the OP's ds's parade. Right, leaving aside your unsubstantiated claim that the lad will go to the pub, perhaps you could explain why teenagers shouldn't exercise their democratic right to protest?

We didn't get the right to vote by asking nicely. We had to fight for it. Using protest and direct action. And I'm not just talking about women, I'm talking about ordinary people of both genders.

mrswoodentop - I think that's a good attitude he has. Positive, yet pargmatic.
Top lad.

The OP says 'dh thinks that because he wouldn't go on his own that he just wants a day off school with his friends'. Maybe DH is right. A meeting may be convened in a public bar and there may be chinking of glasses and cries of "Hail fellow, well met".

I don't think it is a good idea to encourage schoolchildren to take a day off school, to help others' political causes. Would those encouraging him to take a day off feel the same if he wanted to go on a march for the Countryside Alliance. Are there some people encouraging schoolchildren to take a day off in order to swell numbers at the protest so that they can achieve their own political purpose?

On the day the bombs started dropping on Baghdad I postivily shooed my students out of the class and encouraged them to join in the (pre planned) protest march to parliament. They came back the next day buzzing with the experience. These were students from deprived backgrounds whose families and community have a history of not voting. The experience galvanised a large chunk of them to think about their involvement in the political process and many of them have since proudly told me of voting in their first election.

Yes they lost some teaching time, but the knock on effect was far greater than the teaching lost.

I would let him go, its good to see young people being politically active

slug, I think that was a worthy protest, but I don't think it is right to encourage schoolchildren to join in, because there is a danger that teachers may be influencing them politically. Would you also positively shoo your students out of the class and encouraged them to join in a Countryside Alliance march?

I remember the pictures on TV of parents and young children with banners, marching and protesting against the reselection of Hazel Blears. That was in the evening after school, and it wouldn't have been right to encourage them to take a day off school to join in, even though many in the country would consider that a very worthwhile protest.

If you told your employer that you were taking a day off to join the protest, how do you think they would they react? unless they were one of these 6th form colleges who were intentionally giving their pupils permission to take the day off and join in.

I agree with the changes to student funding but would encourage my child to protest against them if she wanted to.

Claig,I think school children and 17 year olds are different though.I definately would have said no this time last year when he was in compulsory schooling.

For what its worth we live in the country and huge numbers went from here on the Countryside Alliance marches not sure why you think they are worse than any other marches.To be frank one was slightly frowned upon here for not going.

Your last point about the employer is my concern actually,in that teachers still have to be in school ,they can't take a day off to suit them so it is disrepectful of him to think that he can.That said sometimes you do have to take a risk or go against the grain and I think on balance this is one of those times.I would take days annual leave from my employer.

We will see what happens when he comes home from school,no doubt there will be lots of discussion today

You are paying his fees at the independent school. I can see why your DH thinks that it is not a good idea.

Many of the activists on this protest will be Labour party activists, the sort that are also against independent schools. the reason I mentioned teh Countryside Alliance is that these Labour tyopes would not encourage schoolchildren to join in one of their marches, but there will be many 6th form colleges who do encourage pupils to join in this one. I've got nothing against Countryside Alliance or this march, but I think it is a slippery slope to allow children or 6th form college students to take the day off to participate in protests. Where will it end? and who will decide which cause is politically important enough to allow for days off?

These 6th form colleges that encourage children to join in, will presumably have few pupils at school on that day. Will they still teach the few that turn up to school? and will they have encouraged some students to go along with peer pressure and protest when they might have preferred to study at school?

Yes, it's brilliant that he feels passionately about something. My only concern is violence. My 15 year old daughter wanted to go on the climate change protest when she was 13, I wouldn't let her as she was so young and also I was scared of a clash with the police. She is a very forthright young lady and I could actually imagine her getting into a tussle with the police! But certainly for a 17 year old, I think they're old enough to be trusted.

Claig. It was an FE college, so the students could do what they liked. For many of them it was a political awakening and something I was more than happy to support. I didn't go on the protest, I had work to do.