# Is it legal for students to walk out of class ("strike")?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-for-students-to-walk-out-of-class-strike/634953>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [September 17, 2012, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-for-students-to-walk-out-of-class-strike/634953 "2012-09-17T09:30:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**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:** [September 17, 2012, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-for-students-to-walk-out-of-class-strike/634953/21 "2012-09-17T21:18:00Z")

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> [@DrCube](#):
>
> …In Illinois today, and I believe in 1977 as well, school is only mandatory before age 16. So there is nothing stopping a strike among the upper high school grades. And what are you going to do if the younger grades walk out too? Give them all detention?

Yeah, if you’re past the complusory school age then the worst the district can due is drop you from the attendance rolls and not let you return to class. When I was in HS that took about 20 unexcused absences to happen.

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**Author:** ![Wulabo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Wulabo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wulabo)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-for-students-to-walk-out-of-class-strike/634953/22 "2012-09-17T21:51:16Z")

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Ummmmm…news flash. About half of Chicago students have been on strike for decades. Perhaps not officially, but if you mean not going to class, doing homework, or studying for test, then yes. The chaotic atmosphere you say you aren’t advocating is a pretty accurate description of school when its in session. You just left out the guns and the drugs. Why do you think the graduation rates are so abysmal?

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**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-for-students-to-walk-out-of-class-strike/634953/23 "2012-09-18T01:32:05Z")

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> [@DrCube](#):
>
> So leaving school at 3pm is fine, but leaving at noon is a safety issue? I don’t buy it.

Maybe “safety” is the wrong word, but that’s how some parents would frame it. It’s a liability issue. Parents got their kids to school, and they expect to school to keep them there until the normal end of the school day. They know that school ends at 3pm and can make whatever arrangements they deem appropriate.

Presumably, for plenty of responsible kids, that just means “text me if you’re not going to be home by dinner so I know where you are”. But if the uptight ones want to shepherd their kids to and from school, that’s their right as parents.

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**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-for-students-to-walk-out-of-class-strike/634953/24 "2012-09-18T10:56:51Z")

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If students do strike, where does the school district go to find scabs?

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