# A Modest Proposal: Absenteeism In The Public Schools **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 28, 2015, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-modest-proposal-absenteeism-in-the-public-schools/716210 "2015-03-28T15:22:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-modest-proposal-absenteeism-in-the-public-schools/716210/21 "2015-03-29T20:28:28Z")
> [@pbbth](#): > > …and choose from a list of options that might be a better fit (like working or volunteering at least 30 hours a week, moving to technical school instead of a standard high school, joining the military… About the last one; the military is not interested in anyone who can’t manage to graduate from high school (or at least get a GED). That’s not going to change anytime soon barring a massive war. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-modest-proposal-absenteeism-in-the-public-schools/716210/22 "2015-03-29T20:35:51Z")
> [@pbbth](#): > > What if, rather than getting rid of compulsory schooling, we tweaked the system we have now to allow those students who have problems another option? If you allowed that once a student had two truant tickets on record they could go before a judge and explain why school just isn’t for them and choose from a list of options that might be a better fit (like working or volunteering at least 30 hours a week, moving to technical school instead of a standard high school, joining the military, etc.) that would provide the opportunity to make life better for the kids, their parents, the teachers, and the other students who aren’t bothered by the jerk-wads anymore. Some of these options are good. I personally like some of the ideas. I do not know, however, if they’d be politically feasible. I personally have always felt that if you don’t mean to go to college, there should be vocational options. There certainly were when I was a kid. Regrettably these have gone by the wayside to some extent, since the politicians want to score points by “fixing education,” and thus giving the idea that we’re all going to be rocket scientists and investment bankers, and if the kids don’t make it, it’s the SCHOOLS’ fault… ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-modest-proposal-absenteeism-in-the-public-schools/716210/23 "2015-03-29T21:27:00Z")
> [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > No, I do not teach elementary. And I agree that this is NOT a point, developmentally, where a kid can just skip school, optional, who cares. You seem to have found a hole in my idea. > > But I do not teach elementary, and I had no idea that you had parents who’d just say hellwiddit and not see to it that their children attended school. Why WOULDN’T they? The kid is still small enough that you can pick him up and MOVE him when he throws a tantrum! You would think so. But you’d be wrong. There are loads of reasons why parents don’t make sure their elementary-aged kids go to school. I have to say, I’m surprised that parents in your area get tickets if their teenage kids are truant. (Unless of course, the parents are deliberately keeping those kids out of school, which also happens). I used to work in CPS, and if a parent couldn’t get their teenager to go to school, the parents didn’t get punished. No tickets, they weren’t found to be neglecting the kid or to be responsible for the nonattendance. They might have been advised to file a Person in Need of Supervision petition with the family court but that would be it. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-modest-proposal-absenteeism-in-the-public-schools/716210/24 "2015-03-29T22:06:42Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > So, are you saying that these kids are just born bad, then? Some are, yes. [Oppositional Defiance Disorder](http://www.kidsmentalhealth.org/children-conduct-disorder-oppositional-defiant-disorder-odd/) is a very real thing. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-modest-proposal-absenteeism-in-the-public-schools/716210/25 "2015-03-29T22:27:29Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Some are, yes. [Oppositional Defiance Disorder](http://www.kidsmentalhealth.org/children-conduct-disorder-oppositional-defiant-disorder-odd/) is a very real thing. You’re tellin’ ME? But the fact is, we can work with this. If the parents are on board. If the kid comes to school. If we are given the resources we need. We can work with this. But kick out any leg of the above structure, and what we have is legal responsibility without the power to do a damn thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-modest-proposal-absenteeism-in-the-public-schools/716210.md?page=1)