scrubbedexpat099

I remember seeing this in the Guardian I think, struck me as odd because as a child I do not recall this ever happening.

As an aside it does make the pay more taxes for a better educational argument more challenging.

kodokan

Elementary this is considered fine and commonplace; it doesn't seem to get abused and no-one minds overmuch. People make sensible choices about when, and for how long.

Junior high, where my son is now, is different. Kids do still get taken out, but it's clearly much more a bother. For starters, the child has to make up all the missing work, accept a late penalty grade for any homework that wasn't in on time due to being away, etc. I had to email the Social Studies teacher last year when my son was in a pair working on a project together, which the other kid took home to finish his share off the night before it was due. His project partner's parents took him out of school the day before Thanksgiving with no notice, to extend their holiday, and that kid and my son got only half marks on their project! (I got the full mark reinstated for my son though, as the SS teacher agreed that it was totally beyond the usual 'up to you to manage your partner's input through team working' expectation.)

My son, who's not remotely swotty and academic, still hates missing school as it's such a colossal hassle to be out of step with the workload and have to scrabble about finding out what he missed. He won't even let me schedule his ortho appointments during school hours! So be aware that for older kids, it's not fair to make it entirely the parents' decision any more.

Yorkieabroad

I think its 3 events..

Yorkieabroad

Yikes - that's tough! I don't think we've ever had less than 2 weeks at Christmas. If Christmas falls on a Thursday (as it does next year) we get 19th to 5 or possibly even 6th. The year my eldest was in Kindergarten we had 10 days at Thanksgiving which was nice. Glad we enjoyed it, because ever since then we've only had the Wednesday-Friday off

Beaverstate

Hate to be a cynic but in many districts the schools funding depends on the attendance rate, no butt in the seat no money.
That is probably the main cause of the fines, not that your child missed a few days education.

scrubbedexpat091

Nobody gave a rats ass back in the late 80's to late 90's when I was in school, missed a day no big deal as long as you had a parents note excusing the absence.

But I went to school in the era of, doesn't matter if the kid learns anything, just pass em through teaching style.

All this talk of fines is just mind boggling.

Glad I don't have kids, seems to be too complicated these days.

Yorkieabroad

Cynic?...realist more like.....also the reason for so much "teaching to the test"...

Yorkieabroad

Same here, re the foreigners. I remember a few years back hearing a conversation between an Indian lady and one of the school administrators. She was asking about the possibility of taking the kid out of school (elementary) mid term to go back to India for a family wedding, and staying there 3 weeks. Rather than just inform the school and plan to make up the work, the advice was to actually officially withdraw the kid from school, then re-register when they returned................

scrubbedexpat099

There is some Mexican Holiday that interferes, forget which one, but there was a bit some years ago that basically the School system just accepts it.

yukichon

The whole problem would be solved if government or some kind of watchdog insisted that the travel companies and airlines didn't have the right to blimmin triple the cost of everything. I understand that it's a business, but our business is quite seasonal but we do not nike the costs up during school holidays.

Pulaski

So you cap the price a business can charge during peak demand, significantly reducing the revenue. But they can't compensate by increasing prices during lower demand, so guess what? The business either reduces in size very significantly, or, more likely, goes out of business.

Russia and Eastern Europe tried command economies, and that didn't work out too well, did it?

Yorkieabroad

Didn't we just have a thread on travel prices during school vacation a couple of weeks ago.....?

hoffage123

Looking at the article on BBC News, it didn't seem to be simply down to affordability, it was also because the fathers employer wasn't allowing them the time off during the school holidays either (the MoD Donnington). So from that perspective, it did seem like they were a little bit stuck ...

yukichon

I understand what you are saying, but there is taking advantage of an opportunity and there is also a blatant p take , which in most cases I believe is the case.

dunroving

I suppose it makes sense - if a large proportion of the population has children, they can't all take their holidays at the same time, or the country would grind to a halt!

[Having said that, there are businesses here that simply close down for a fixed period and everyone goes on holiday at the same time - and the traditional "Glasgow Fair" fortnight involves lots of Glasgow businesses closing down.]