My response from Swedens Minister of Education (Well, his assistent)

I think we are all agreed - the basic idea of getting kids into help and school is a good one.  But I think that there needs to be programs in place to help these children succeed and understand why school is so important to them succeeding.

I would recommend you look into those programs, and if you find them lacking, begin writing your local government officials as well as the overall ones to see if such programs can be initiated.
 
This is a more complex issue than I'd like it to be. And while the current system obviously isn't working. Police won't solve anything. Just like a lot of Björklund's other proposals it's nothing more than a theoretical construct that he puts out there to appease his voter base who think that "those darn kids these days should be dealt with properly!". It will never be a reality, because as you say, the resources just aren't there. But by putting forth this proposal he at least gives off the image that they are doing something about it. It was the same with their change of our school laws to give teachers the right to confiscate cell-phones and music players if they were deemed to disrupt teaching.

Now, as a student teacher, I'm all for being able to do that. While I respect the pupils' integrity, and definitely don't want to do it, having the right to is a good thing in my opinion. However, the problem is that the law doesn't allow you to use force. Which means that if the pupil says no and doesn't let go of the phone (closes his hand around it), you have no means of taking it from him. Obviously, I'm not saying we should be allowed to wrestle the pupils for the phones, that's ridiculous. But it proves the point that laws like this are useless. I did manage to pull it off once because my pupil was fourteen, didn't know the extent of the law, and was looking the other way. However, it's not a viable strategy in the long run. Add to that the fact that there's no proper regulation as to where said phones should be stored and whose responsibility they are, nor what kind of system should be used to identify them.

All these proposals are nothing more than ways for them to keep the public in line while they make other policy changes changing the school to more and more efficiently churn out work-force while no longer encouraging independent thinking among students.

Now, feel free to disregard everything I said. Because to be honest, I hate that guy so much I'm not sure my judgment can be trusted :p
 
Shrike said:
Now, feel free to disregard everything I said. Because to be honest, I hate that guy so much I'm not sure my judgment can be trusted :p
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It's ok, I think he's a nut too. I mean cmon, a Major as Minister of Education? A guy who haven't even been in a schoolbench for twenty years? Really, you should have someone younger as Minister of Education, someone who has been in school the past 10 years.

And really, we should progress forward not looking back. That guy wants to have the schools like they were 50 years ago. And since when is, forgive me, militarys the first thing you think of when you hear "education"? Come on, the guy surely haven't been to one psychologyclass in his life, so how the fuck should he be deemed appropriate to decide how to teach kids, because really, militarys aren't really what you think of when you hear the word  "pedagogy" (no offence Deano).

Now, feel free to disregard everything I've said in this post, because I hate him too.  :p

LC: I'll start by talking to my social studies teacher.
 
In my city the police wont be going around looking for children but if they see groups of people say at McDonalds or walking down a  street they’ll pull over and ask them why they aren’t at school and find out what school they go to and other personal info. If the children don’t give a legit reason the cop can call the school and find out if there skipping class or on a spare then take them back depending on the situation, the child will get a phone call home from the school. All though the government could think of something better to do I prefer this half ass idea to just letting skipping teens walk around town worry free acting like idiots.  Of course this wont help kids with psychological issues or other family issues but for the average teen that thinks skipping here and there is cool it will, When I got a call home from my school my parents gave me a big earful when I got home and now I think twice when I want to skip.
 
"Mom, I feel really, really ill. Everything hurts. I've had this before, it's gone after a day."
 
That right there is the biggest problem. I think the "brats" hanging around at the mall all day are a very small percentage. The real problem lies in the ones who are apathetic, depressed and just don't care anymore. And I don't think cops will solve the problem for those kids.

I myself had in the range of 25% absence in Upper Secondary, and even more in Lower Secondary. Without doing drugs and vandalising :p. And I was actually racking up pretty nice marks, enough for me to choose what I wanted for Upper Secondary/Uni with no problems. But that's not the case with everyone. I just think the image of everyone who skips school as a delinquent needs to go because it's not true.

As for bad parenting, I think that's a big issue. But on the other hand, the options for a single mom to get her 16-year old son out of bed when he doesn't want to are quite limited. At least in Sweden. If we'd had a more strict system of child-punishment (grounding etc. is rarely done in Sweden), then maybe it would make a difference. The question is how much it'd matter if the kids are in school if they have no interest. I know tons of people who were in class every day, but never achieved anything at all.

The simplest way to solve this, imo? More teachers, smaller groups, more flexible schedules. I think that would lead to an environment that would be more welcoming to all, would likely motivate pupils more, and they'd have more support. It's been proven time and time again that teacher-density and teacher skill are some of the most important factors in pupil results and well being. So quit yapping and just hire all the out of work academics with teacher degrees. Would probably be cheaper than the average tax-cuts these guys pull off.
 
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