schools increase policing of kids and families

There is an economic mess caused by criminal behavior unchecked by shareholders or congress.  And since attendance is tied to funding, truancy is getting more attention, as funds are shrinking.  Schools initially required compulsory attendance for a much shorter length of time but today schools use their police power on older kids to improve numbers.

Schools never developed the skills of negotiating, mediation and problem-solving that would enable them to generate services for unhappy or poorly served kids.  Instead we gave schools police power over families and kids.  In this situation, when the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

Replacing child labor in factories with child labor in schools is really not much of an improvement. Homeschooling, the real school reform movement, was begun in response to the push from over-sized institutions with no check on their power to police citizens.  It has taken activism for more than 40 years to enable the family to be recognized as a place a child can spend time in.

Truancy fines are going up as the so-called free public schools, neither free nor public, cost more and more for families already struggling with 30 years of wage decline for working class families.  And now schools want to use truancy fees as well as increasing general fees in spite of the fact that citizens already pay for these schools with their taxes.
on Monday, March 14, 2011
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