Move over, parents, Daddy Government is here to rear the kiddies for you

Move over, parents, Daddy Government is here to rear the kiddies for you

Once again, the government is overstepping their boundaries. In North Dakota, there is a bill being presented that would make criminals out of parents whose children are chronically tardy:

Parents who are chronically negligent in seeing that their children attend school could face misdemeanor criminal charges under a bill heard in the House Wednesday.

Senate Bill 2217 was introduced by Mandan legislators after school officials there convinced them that there is a growing problem with grade school students missing large amounts of school.

“This is a very important step that has to be taken,” said Sen. Dwight Cook, R-Mandan. “Unfortunately, we have a real truancy problem.”

Cook and others who favor the bill, including Mandan Superintendent Wilfred Volesky, said elementary students who miss a lot of school are being set up to fall behind and drop out when they reach 16.

Most high school drop-outs did not develop the habit of skipping school after they got to high school, Volesky said. It results from how their families enforced attendance in grade school.

“Truancy at this level is more often a parent issue,” he said.

Volesky outlined how Mandan sends letters to and phones parents in efforts to get children back in school on a regular basis. Some respond to the calls or letters and others don’t, he said.

“These parents have no fear of the current legal consequences,” he said.

Apparently, it’s already a class C felony in North Dakota to not send your children to school. But those pesky prosecutors just won’t prosecute! So, they want to bring it down to a misdemeanor so that hopefully, more parents will be prosecuted.

This kind of thing, frankly, is just sickening. It is not the government’s job to decide how we raise our children. When this country was first founded, there weren’t any public schools! When government schooling finally did come around, it certainly wasn’t mandatory.

Now, yes, it’s probably not the best idea in the world to not send your kid to school every day. But some people are not the best parents in the world. Or maybe some people have legitimate reasons for their children to be out of school often. A friend of mine in elementary and middle school had leukemia, and thus missed school often. Would that be OK with educators and bureaucrats in North Dakota, or would my friend’s parents be slapped with a misdemeanor charge as well? It may seem like an outrageous question, but where would the line be? Attendance is the decision — and the responsibility — of the parents. And if they choose not to send their children to school one day for whatever reason, they shouldn’t have to worry about being a criminal for doing so. Often, if parents don’t send their children to school, there’s usually a good reason for it. So, under this new legislation, if a child does not attend school and the parent has a reason for it, is the parent “excused”? And who decides which excuses are acceptable and which are not?

This is a path we do not want to start down.

Here’s the thing: a parent gets to decide how to raise their children. The government does not. Government school attendance is not mandatory, even though our tax dollars fund it. Criminalizing parents for their child’s lack of attendance is an atrocious idea, and one that is treading on dangerous ground. This is America, land of the free. How free would this country be if parents couldn’t even raise their children as they see fit? No one says that it’s a good thing for parents to keep their kids constantly truant. But this bill is basically the North Dakota government’s way of forcing parents to raise their children the way the government wants them to. And where do we go from there? If this measure is a success, can parents be prosecuted if their kids are too fat? If they fail their grades? If they — God forbid — don’t put their kids in government schools?

Again, this country was founded on the basis of freedom and liberty. Bills such as these are in direct opposition to those principles, and it’s up to us to say no to power-greedy educators and bureaucrats.

Hat Tip: Say Anything

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6 Comments
  • Cassy, I had a friend that used to miss a lot of school to watch her younger siblings because her mother always had hangovers. Now, this is the exception not the rule. But things like that do happen. There are a lot of parents out there that just don’t care if their children go to school. However, you’re 100% correct that it’s the parent’s job not the government’s to raise the children. And in cases similiar to my friends, a social worker could get involved and maybe prove the parents unfit and remove the children to a better environment. But to punish ALL parents because of a few is just moronic. Again, big government sticking its nose where it doesn’t belong.

  • CaptDMO says:

    Annnnnd….I’m guessing that the same good intentioned folks have ensured that corporal punishment, by parents, is AGAINST the law as well.

  • Leo Leinen says:

    Actually, at least here in Iowa, attendance is mandatory, unless you’re homeschooled, until you’re 16. Pending legistlation would change that to 18.

  • Scott says:

    I see homeschooling in your future, when you and your Marine tie the knot!

    One nit to pick – in most jurisdictions, attendance at government schools is compulsory unless you have done some specific things, like enroll your children in a private school. Thus the truancy laws.

    Basically, government schools are the default requirement.

  • J David says:

    Homeschooling is on the short list of things these fascists intend to immediately eliminate. Marriages minus gov’t consent/permission (licenses)and secret childbirth/rearing is going to be the ONLY way to keep their hands off of the children. Those kids not raised by gov’t SECULAR standards will be taken…count on it!

  • NB says:

    But if kids aren’t in school how will they be properly indoctrinated?

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