Comments on: Intensive Parenting Enforced: Parents Criminal Liability for Children Skipping School

By: Rich Demanowski

Rich Demanowski — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 01:23:42 +0000

Holding people responsible for something they have no control over is simply absurd.

We’re not talking about automatons here, these are living, breathing people with a will of their own.

Parents can talk, cajole, even threaten all they want, if that young person decides not to obey, there’s nothing anyone can do except punish them after the fact (and it’s well-established that punishment is one of the least effective methods of inducing long-term behaviour changes).

Parents can drive the kids, door to door, deposit them personally in the classroom, if the kid decides to duck out (and they’ll find a way, even in the strictest environments – kids can have tremendous willpower) there’s nothing the parents, teachers, or school administrators can do about it.

Short of creating an atmosphere of slavery by standing over them with a whip 24/7, or completely breaking their will with “brainwashing” and torture techniques, nobody has complete control over another human being.

Want to keep kids in school? Make it interesting enough that they *want* to stay.

Listen to the kids! They’re telling you that the schooling you’re providing for them is BORING THEM TO DEATH!

By: DelD

DelD — Thu, 27 May 2010 00:09:45 +0000

Meanwhile, in parts of rural Northern Calfornia, felony prosecutions for truancy are all the rage…

http://www.willows-journal.com/articles/corning-4763-truancy-forgery.html

http://www.orland-press-register.com/articles/anderson-5139-school-district.html

Unbelievable.

By: May 26 roundup

May 26 roundup — Wed, 26 May 2010 11:18:54 +0000

[...] Parenting Enforced: Parents Criminal Liability for Children Skipping School” [Gaia Bernstein, ConcurOp on a California [...]

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Tue, 25 May 2010 10:59:11 +0000

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By: Maryland Conservatarian

Maryland Conservatarian — Mon, 24 May 2010 23:02:22 +0000

Not sure if I’d accuse parents ensuring their kids are in school of “intensive parenting”; seems rather a bare minimum to me but this could just be semantics.

I’m kind of surprised that this (truancy) is still a problem in CA – what with the President’s moving words of encouragement to stay or get in school. But I’m guessing the $2,000 fine is probably the selling point for a cash-strapped state like CA.

And what happens if it turns out that such a law “disproportionately impacts” (see, I can talk like a liberal activist) the illegal – I mean undocumented – “community”? Can they avoid jail and/or the fine by just agreeing to go back home? Would this be a deportable offense?(it could be spun as child neglect or abuse).

So many questions – still I’m inclined to agree with you that this would not be a good law. Instead, when it comes to truancy, I’d suggest CA stick with the old tried-and-true favorites: Blame Society and, of course, George Bush.