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Should Mother Go To Jail For Child's Truancy?

by Theresa Fritz Camoriano

Jefferson County, Kentucky has decided to crack down on truancy, and Paula Renee Scherzinger and her children may be its first victims. http://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2001/08/

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There is no allegation that the mother is abusing her child, only that she has not made it to the bus stop in time on a regular basis. There is a compulsory attendance law on the books, and this mother is not obeying it. But surely, if the school system really cared about the child, it would make an effort to help her, such as by allowing her to attend the school near her home to which she could walk instead of requiring her to catch a bus. Throwing the mother in jail certainly cannot be beneficial to the child.

Obviously, the intent here is not to help the child, since she would certainly be worse off with her mother in jail. So what purpose will be served by throwing this mother in jail? Clearly, the real purpose is to make sure the school system gets as much money as it can from the state and federal governments. These days, schools receive most of their funding based on attendance, so, when students are frequently absent, the school loses money. By making an example of Ms. Scherzinger, the school system no doubt hopes to intimidate other parents into sending their children to school more often, thereby ensuring a greater flow of money into the school system.

Is this really how our system should work? By threatening and frightening parents into compliance? Yes, it does feel more like a Soviet-style re-education camp than the land of the free and the home of the brave, and, in fact, our government schools today are more like Soviet style re-education camps, with children being indoctrinated into the politically correct views on the environment, on families, on drugs, on evolution, on how to "work well with others", and so forth. But that's what we should expect when we support compulsory education and government-run schools. "Compulsory" means, if you resist, you will eventually be shot or put in jail. And "government-run" means that those who hold political power will determine what the children will be taught.

While many people today are very disappointed in the quality of education children are receiving in the government schools, they should understand that the purpose of the government schools is not to benefit children. It is, instead, to benefit the establishment -- politicians, bureaucrats, counselors, teachers' unions, principals, aides, and others. Children are simply a means to that end. If children do not learn to read, write, calculate, and reason for themselves, that's alright, as long as they learn to be obedient servants of the state. And, if a few mothers have to go to jail to keep the other parents in line, well, you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs!

This isn't the kind of neighborhood school system many of us remember as children -- a system that was entirely locally funded and controlled. Today, distant bureaucrats call most of the shots -- from Washington, D.C. and Frankfort, KY -- bureaucrats who don't know and will never meet the children whose education they control. They aren't worried about any particular little girl who will suffer when her mother is thrown in jail. But true education means caring about every single individual child in your care, because every child is unique and learns in her own way. That kind of caring and attention can only take place on a local, personal level. And the most local level, with the people who typically care the most about the child, is the family level.

Raising and educating children is the natural province of families -- it should not be controlled by governments. Schools should cater to the wishes of parents, not point guns at parents and send them to jail. And children are far too precious to be treated as means to an end or as numbers on a data chart. Yes, some parents do a better job than others, but almost all parents care more about their children and do a better job of raising them than can distant bureaucrats who wouldn't even recognize the children if they saw them.

What can we do about this situation? Unfortunately, the entrenched powers are very entrenched and will not readily give up what they have achieved in terms of taking power and money out of the hands of taxpayers and parents. However, there is much that individual families can do. First, if you really care about your child's education, get your child out of the government schools. The percentage of government school teachers who send their children to private schools is amazing -- what do they know that you don't? Second, be supportive of families who home school or take other non-traditional paths. (It appears that Ms. Scherzinger has worked at home with her daughter on the days when she missed the bus, partially home schooling the child.) Third, speak out. If you don't want to see mothers go to jail, then you must oppose compulsory education.

Eventually, if enough people "opt out" of the government-controlled indoctrination/education system, there will no longer be the political will to continue the charade now called "public education".