Truancy in school – individual responsibility (0)

Truancy in school – individual responsibility
Hello ladies and gentlemen, today I am here to talk to you about truancy in school and why is it an individual responsibility.
Truancy in school is a very serious problem nowadays. Unfortunately many students have lost their motivation to study. According to the BBC 400,000 children were persistently absent from England's schools in the past year and missed about one month of school each. The effect that poor attendance at school can have on a child 's education can be permanent and damaging but skipping should be child’s own responsibility and it is not right to punish the parents for it.
Students have many reasons why they are skipping school, mostly they do not like the teachers or the subjects that they are taught. They tend think that they won’t need those subjects in their future life. Some children are just lazy and irresponsible. Also one serious reason is bullying . Bad relationships between the classmates make students to skip the classes .
People, no matter how old they are should learn to take responsibility for their actions. However it does not refer to the small children who attend the primary school but they usually do not skip. The ones that do skip are mostly the students of the secondary and high school who are definitely old enough to take responsibility for their actions. If they think that they are already smart enough and do not need to study anymore then it is their choice and their parents should not be punished for their children making that decision . There can be many reasons why parents cannot cope with their children. Families are different and you never know what is going on between the members of the family.
If the child who is already old enough does not go to school it is his not his parents’ responsibility because it is his future and he has a right to decide what to do after becoming an adult. I find that the idea that it is only the responsibility of the parents that their child skips school is quite wrong because there are many stubborn and unpredictable children who just cannot be forced to attend classes and parents can do nothing about it even if they do want their child to study.
The thing that parents need to do is to explain their children why is it important to attend the school and become an educated person and how education influences the life of the human being. But even if they fail to do that I think that it does not give the right to punish them .
I think that in the UK the Education Act is too strict. According to the Guardian in November 2000 the maximum penalty for allowing a child to truant was raised from £1,000 to £2,500 and/or three months in prison . In Estonia the law is more loyal, the penalty is not so harsh. For example parents are not sent to prison and the amount of money they have to pay is smaller. But it is still wrong to fee the parents especially when dealing with the high school students.
In conclusion I would like to say that truancy is the students’ own responsibility and they should be completely responsible for their actions.
Articles :
Postimees - “Suurpopitajate vanemad hakkavad saama trahvi ”
Pealinn- “Popitamise eest saab trahvi vaid äärmisel juhul”
The Guardian- “Mother jailed for daughters' truancy”
BBC- “400,000 pupils miss month of school”
http://www.postimees.ee/270692/suurpopitajate-vanemad-hakkavad-saama-trahvi/
http://www.pealinn.ee/?pid=141&nid=9304&lang=5
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2002/may/13/schools.uk1?INTCMP=SRCH
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-17534905

• It is the student ’s own responsibility
  
• It is more fair to punish the students not their parents but as they usually do not have any income it could be some kind of community service
  
• The fees put on the families are too high
  
• I understand that students may have many reasons why they skip school but if they already do it they should also be responsible for it. I mean parents cannot always control their children and force them to do something , the child’s own ideas , views and wishes play play a huge role in this case .