His parents should be hanged, drawn and quatered and the boy sent to Australia to be 'schooled' 24/7.....eh, Richard?

(and yes, I am joking, for those with no humour)

Tell me, when did so many of you become brainwashed into giving your children over to the State, to have them loaded down with pressure, to have them tested, examined...and sometimes brought to within an inch of suicide, if not actually carrying that out, simply because you were sold the belief that the *only* way to educate a child is in a rigid school system?

Would you tell you child, at home, to sit on a hard wooden chair for 8 hours and study, giving him just a few breaks? Would you then tell him that when he'd done that, he could sit on a softer chair and do his homework...but to be sure to get up early to go to school early for his breakfast club...and to not forget to put his name down for his after school club...

And since WHEN did you all believe that those who have the word 'teacher' on their passports are the ONLY people who are able to actually teach children?

Some teachers damaged my children.

As I have said so many times, I have the utmost respect for anyone who can teach a child well, be they official teachers or simply natural ones. They literally can inspire a child for the rest of their lives.

I have the utmost disgust for bullies and inadequates, many of whom dislike children, who dare to hide behind the name of 'teacher' purely because it's a steady job with lots of holidays...and like it or not, there are plenty of teachers who are in it for the holidays.

Yes, teachers these days are also snowed under with pressure. Many of them, sadly, put that onto the children. The good teachers would never dream of doing such a thing..and often burn themselves out trying to protect and help their stressed out pupils.



Emma...thank you for your usual bitchy comment, but when I spoke of Russia, I meant that the population has now become so controlled, so amenable to being told what they can or cannot do.

There are only 2 compulsory things in my life...being born and dying. Everything that happens to me, or my children, inbetween that time has options and is my decision. And my children are free to live their own lives now as they want to. They do not, and never have belonged to The State.

To start fining parents for anything is madness.   

As Crow Sister so aptly pointed out, they should be looking into the reasons that children aren't attending schools in the first place

But of course, they won't, because they don't want to hear the answers.

The next thing on the horizon will be to shut down Home Education, regulate it, restrict it as much as possible...

When they do...and they will...you should all shudder in horror, because then, the STATE really will own your children.

No-one owns their children, we are the Keepers and the Guardians of them.

School is not compulosry....but soon, I fear it will be...and then the Age of the Individual will start to sink over the horizon with ever increasing speed.