It’s not uncommon for kids and teens to be rebellious. It’s that period in their lives when they have to do what adults tell them to do, so it is only natural that so many of them don’t want to follow rules and do things their own way. In practice, this often means that kids and teens could go as far as skipping classes when they should be studying at school. If this happens, there will be consequences both for the student and for the adults responsible for them (parents and teachers). Here’s everything you need to know about the legality of not going to school.

Why Kids and Teens Skip School

It goes without saying that there are many reasons why kids and teens could be skipping school. In some cases, the child gets sick and needs to stay at home until they recover. There are also situations when the student needs to be present elsewhere that could be considered valid reasons for skipping school. However, when the kids or teens are the ones taking the initiative to skip school, that’s when issues can arise. Here are some of the most common reasons why students decide to skip school on their own: Feeling Unsafe – Some students feel unsafe at school either because they are being bullied or for other reasons (e.g. being afraid of a possible school shooting). To avoid the place where they feel unsafe, they simply decide to skip school. Academic Failure – There are many students who could be falling behind their peers in terms of academic excellence, so some of them could be avoiding school because they don’t want to fail another exam, get scolded in front of the class, etc.

Using Substances While Skipping Class

Substance Abuse – Just like adults, children and teenagers can fall victim to substance abuse. Some students skip school because of doing drugs and drinking alcohol, so their situation might be even more severe than expected. Working – It is common in low-income and poor families for children to start working early. This is why high schoolers could be skipping classes to work and make money to be able to support their families. Getting Attention – A lot of children feel like their parents don’t care about them, so in order to get attention, they decide to misbehave and skip school. Unfortunately, are often unaware of the fact that their children are skipping school.

How Adults Can Solve These Problems

If the student was the one who decided to skip school because of one of the reasons above, then adults should definitely step in and try to help the child before punishing them or taking legal action. Here’s how family members and educators can help in these situations: Talk to the Child – Whether they are a little kid or a senior student in high school, simply talking to them will already make a huge difference. You need to find out why they skipped school. What are their worries? How can you help? How can you change their perspective? Strengthen Security – If the issue is that the child feels unsafe, the school needs to implement the right measures to strengthen security. If the child is being bullied, there should be actions taken to resolve the situation and punish the bullies while providing therapy for the child.

Hiring Tutors and Writers

Hire Academic Helpers – In case the student is failing academically, it’s worth hiring tutors to help them catch up with their studies. You can also hire professional academic writers from the writing services reviews to the site Best Writers Online to help the student complete their assignments on time. Just make sure you don’t break school rules. Seek Professional Medical Help – If the kid or teen is struggling with substance abuse, then getting professional medical help is essential for their recovery. Find Other Solutions – It’s difficult to simply solve the problem of poverty, but there are ways to help the family financially so that the children don’t need to start working so early to support their families. Likewise, you can’t just force the student to come to school by punishing them by making them stay after school or complete additional assignments. But you can talk to them more and get them to talk to a psychologist to find out why they feel ignored by their parents.

The Legality of Skipping School and Repercussions

So, how legal is it for students to skip school? According to the law, school attendance is mandatory for children aged 6 to 16 with some exceptions (including homeschooling) that vary from state to state. This means that parents who don’t like the public education system and want their children to study in a different way may have to reconsider their decision to forbid their children from going to school. Initially, compulsory education was instituted to prevent parents from sending their children to work from a young age rather than ensuring that every child gets a proper education. Nowadays, however, the problem is usually that parents want to homeschool their children by hiring private tutors and academic writers from appropriate writing services to help their children with homework. Luckily, the law allows homeschooling under certain conditions.

Force you to go to school conclusion

If parents don’t send their kids to school or let their kids skip school regularly, they could face criminal charges that vary from state to state. The parents of the child are charged with a misdemeanour and usually have to pay a fine (for first- and second-time offences) but could also get short-term jail sentences. Obviously, the child is required to get back to school and attend it regularly. While skipping school is definitely not as big of a crime as, for example, eating people, it will still have consequences for the parents as well as for the children. The consequences will be different in different states, but there will always be repercussions for such misbehaviour on the child’s side or neglect on the parent’s side. All in all, skipping school is definitely not a big crime, but it can still be harmful to the students, their families, and their educators. That’s why it’s best for the child to go to school when they should be studying there. Author: Frank Hamilton