Because those breaks don't line up with things like the solar eclipse.
Because those breaks don't line up with other cousins' breaks.
Because those breaks don't line up with great-grandma's 95th birthday, and she lives a full day's journey away.
Because those breaks don't line up with your work schedule, or your partner's work schedule.
Because my child is excelling academically, and I absolutely don't think that she'll get as much value out of being in school on Thursday & Friday as she will visiting her relatives in a foreign country for a long weekend.
As my child's parent, it is my duty to be aware of their educational performance, needs, and shortcomings. Based on all that info, I have no problem deciding to take them out of school for two days to go trout fishing with grandpa, or to view the eclipse with grandma.
People got pulled from class for vacations all the time when I was a kid.
It wasn't super common, but it was common enough that there was a standard procedure around it (basically you'd get the classwork/homework that you'd be missing and be expected to present it upon return).
I think a bigger part now is that schools are somewhat more overloaded, so missing class puts you "out of sync" and there's nothing to help you catch back up. When I was young the parents were expected to do that: I don't know how common it is now.
There’s a serious “butts in seats = cash” focus from admin, now. I’m not sure if funding arrangements used (80s and 90s? Pre-nclb? I dunno) to be different.
Correct, they did. And as someone who went to school ~20 years ago - the requirement the prior poster mentions was either not a thing or not enforced if the student was doing fine academically.
Pretty much no one raised an eyebrow about this sort of thing, certainly not at the 10 day total mark.
Why do you think the rules have remained the same?
Similarly, I don't think I ever had an "excused" absence, I didn't have to provide evidence or doctor's notes to the school when I was sick. That simply wasn't a thing that was tracked at all.
If you look at the history of why public education in the U.S. was enacted, there were 3 main reasons, none of which were actually educating children:
1. Assimilate immigrant children into American culture so that they would think of themselves as "American" first and whatever ethnicity they came from second. (Hence, the Pledge of Allegiance, national anthem, American football games, focus on history & social studies in class, etc.)
2. Provide childcare during working hours so parents could go to work. (Hence, compulsory education, hours that aligned with a factory schedule, high student-teacher ratios, etc.)
3. Teach children the skills they would need to be successful in the factory system. (Hence, attendance, arriving punctually, moving between rooms at the bell, following orders, not complaining, etc.)
What's happened over the last 40 years is that the factory system in America fell apart, and so the skills needed for it no longer seem all that relevant compared to actually getting a good education, which school is not all that effective at. Meanwhile there are new waves of immigration with parents that were often highly educated (moreso than native-born Americans, oftentimes) abroad; they don't buy the "this is what a good education looks like" explanation, because they have had an actual good education abroad. And the Internet in general makes people much more suspicious of institutions, because you can see the ways that different power centers try to enforce control of the discourse, and there is no unified discourse to get behind anyway. The public school system in America is deeply embedded in the industrial institutions that were developed from 1900-1980, and as those institutions collapse, the public school system collapses with them.
I'm not sure about parents in general, but I think schools do provide a tremendous amount of value now, the same as they did back when I was attending.
But that's overall, in aggregate. All those drops fill up a river. But a single drop won't be missed.
I get the impression it is more that many students that feel they were above the system are projecting other reasons into this, to be frank. Especially in forums like this one. Combine that with somehow we seem to have far less empathy and charity than in the past, and you get this sort of situation.
And it isn't even that folks are wrong; but evidence is fairly clear that nobody has a solution for education that works. We do know of a bunch of small things that can work in some situations, but at large, we are still trying.
Lack of empathy for the how hard it is to run school. This place is dominated by people that know how things should be done and how things should be run. At large, they are wrong.
I'm open to the idea that I'm wrong on this, of course. Just peruse the top posts and you will see all sorts of assertions about how this isn't actually a problem. There are more than a few pointing out that schooling is irrelevant.
Again, these aren't necessarily wrong. But they are ignoring a whole lot more than they are talking to.
Sorry, I'm still lost. The GP was talking about all the reasons why their specific child might need to be somewhere other than in class on specific days. What does that have to do with empathy for how hard it is to run a school?
The GP is saying that all of the issues existed in years past. I'm saying that what happened is a lot of the current cohort of parents on this website were kids that excelled and likely did outside of school studying. For us, it may seem natural to think many of the things that you are seeing promoted on this site. That does not make these assertions true.
To add to that: Because leaving for vacation one day before school ends and returning one day after school resumes is often not even half as expensive as lining them up.
With one hand I can count all the times I was ever taken out of school in all my twelve years for any unexcused absences like these. Some of these seem farcical. Vacation lining up with my cousins' breaks? That's what summer break is for dude.
Truth is, some families just don't take education seriously.
I also find that attitude wild. Missing school by choice was something to be done only in extraordinary circumstances. Word of kids being gone for long vacations and such would get that look (“oh, they’re those sorts”) and a disappointed head shake from my parents.
(My parents’ background was dirt poor, rural, and white, to set the scene—but skipping by choice was something not to be taken lightly, you go to school, that’s how it is)
Same background as me. The times I 'voluntarily' skipped school were funerals of relatives. I think our perspective is the more common one in the general population, but I guess HN has a lot of those sort of people.
Because those breaks don't line up with other cousins' breaks.
Because those breaks don't line up with great-grandma's 95th birthday, and she lives a full day's journey away.
Because those breaks don't line up with your work schedule, or your partner's work schedule.
Because my child is excelling academically, and I absolutely don't think that she'll get as much value out of being in school on Thursday & Friday as she will visiting her relatives in a foreign country for a long weekend.