I really do not think that this thread or any of the comments in it are worth getting upset over; it just is not worth it!

Home education is right for some children and school is right for others. Some parents do a wonderful job educating their children at home and others don't. The same applies to schools. It's as simple as that.

As for the fines - it is the right of every child to have an education. Something has to be done to ensure that each child has that opportunity. I've forgotten everything that was said at the start of the thread so this could already have been answered but presumably it works the same way as some other fines in that people are means tested to determine how much they can afford to pay or to determine if there is some other more appropriate action that can be taken. If there was a blanket fine then some already disadvantaged child could be even more disadvantaged and that would be unfair.