Look at her/him now. Masking their way through another day. Adding to the trauma. Which in turn will cost in every sense of the word. I wonder how much the ridiculous campaign cost the government? Another pot of money wasted on the wrong thing. Another example of the broken system.
In the US, you get a letter saying they will take the parent to court if the child's attendance doesn't improve! Attendance is so poor now, I'm sure more punishments for parents and kids will be implemented. I went through this with my autistic son, who is now an adult. In the end, they didn't take me to court, but they told him he would need to stay in school 1 1/2 additional years in order to graduate. At that point, I let him drop out and take the GED (high school equivalency test). They just wanted him to fill a seat so they could get money. We battled with them for 6 years over this and other accommodations issues. The whole family is still recovering from the trauma. It seems the education system has little understanding or regard for children.
I see this world over - here in Australia we often get sent a Dept of Education blurb which tells us that “all the little bits” add up. In other words - 10minutes late every day will add up to X number of days of missed school a year and then Y number of years over a 13 yr school journey.
Meanwhile, those of us who have been forced to home educate a child to save their mental health and the whole family from more trauma, know that kids DON’T need to be in school 30 hours a week to cover the curriculum. In fact - my child covers more material in half that time. Want to know why so many home educated kids attend college / university earlier than their peers? It’s not just because so many of them are 2e. It’s because when education isn’t forced into a 30 hour week, it never ends. It can go as fast or slow as the child needs.
To me, this poster demonstrates a government that believes all the anxiety children are feeling around attending school is just "in their head" and has nothing to do with the school itself whatsoever. Can they see how arrogant and blinkered this viewpoint comes across as? How is it even possible that a presumably well-educated and intelligent government would truly believe that? Are they truly saying that so long as we can get those children through the school gates, then everything will be OK? The only thing that will be "ok" in that scenario, is the government's preposterous Attendance records. Can they really be so devoid of comprehension of what is actually going on here? I find it nearly impossible to accept when we live in such a well-informed society. Which leads me to assume, the possibilty at least, that they are in fact completely aware and yet choose to ignore the real issues, which doesn't so much mean they are blinkered, worse, that they're knowingly neglectful. It's making a difficult problem worse, and I think it shows a lack of repectful to the children, their parents, teachers and school staff.
There's a campaign in our district as well. It literally is no help at all. I have multiple children who are extremely distressed by school. My 16yo finally dropped out officially about a month ago. She's finally speaking again. Even when she didn't go but felt pressured to go (meaning she was enrolled) she was literally mute. But "look at her now!" I have another kid struggling with online school but still hanging on, and he stopped having daily migraines when we stopped sending him to campus. Another just started home school for other debilitating somatic responses to school. And I have a younger one who barely made it through the year last year. I was ready to keep her home but my husband insisted on taking her. For months he had to physically dress her and carry her into her classroom with her literally kicking and screaming. She still won't get ready herself, but the kicking and screaming have stopped. She's getting bigger though. It won't be long before we can't force her to go (and I'm already unhappy with doing that). Just telling parents to send their kids to school 100% shows they believe parents are the provlem.
Look at her/him now. Masking their way through another day. Adding to the trauma. Which in turn will cost in every sense of the word. I wonder how much the ridiculous campaign cost the government? Another pot of money wasted on the wrong thing. Another example of the broken system.
In the US, you get a letter saying they will take the parent to court if the child's attendance doesn't improve! Attendance is so poor now, I'm sure more punishments for parents and kids will be implemented. I went through this with my autistic son, who is now an adult. In the end, they didn't take me to court, but they told him he would need to stay in school 1 1/2 additional years in order to graduate. At that point, I let him drop out and take the GED (high school equivalency test). They just wanted him to fill a seat so they could get money. We battled with them for 6 years over this and other accommodations issues. The whole family is still recovering from the trauma. It seems the education system has little understanding or regard for children.
Arseholes
I see this world over - here in Australia we often get sent a Dept of Education blurb which tells us that “all the little bits” add up. In other words - 10minutes late every day will add up to X number of days of missed school a year and then Y number of years over a 13 yr school journey.
Meanwhile, those of us who have been forced to home educate a child to save their mental health and the whole family from more trauma, know that kids DON’T need to be in school 30 hours a week to cover the curriculum. In fact - my child covers more material in half that time. Want to know why so many home educated kids attend college / university earlier than their peers? It’s not just because so many of them are 2e. It’s because when education isn’t forced into a 30 hour week, it never ends. It can go as fast or slow as the child needs.
Our education system is broken.
The people who came up with that tone deaf ad campaign must not be parents.
To me, this poster demonstrates a government that believes all the anxiety children are feeling around attending school is just "in their head" and has nothing to do with the school itself whatsoever. Can they see how arrogant and blinkered this viewpoint comes across as? How is it even possible that a presumably well-educated and intelligent government would truly believe that? Are they truly saying that so long as we can get those children through the school gates, then everything will be OK? The only thing that will be "ok" in that scenario, is the government's preposterous Attendance records. Can they really be so devoid of comprehension of what is actually going on here? I find it nearly impossible to accept when we live in such a well-informed society. Which leads me to assume, the possibilty at least, that they are in fact completely aware and yet choose to ignore the real issues, which doesn't so much mean they are blinkered, worse, that they're knowingly neglectful. It's making a difficult problem worse, and I think it shows a lack of repectful to the children, their parents, teachers and school staff.
Yet more evidence that the real priority is getting parents working. The numbers matter most to them.
There's a campaign in our district as well. It literally is no help at all. I have multiple children who are extremely distressed by school. My 16yo finally dropped out officially about a month ago. She's finally speaking again. Even when she didn't go but felt pressured to go (meaning she was enrolled) she was literally mute. But "look at her now!" I have another kid struggling with online school but still hanging on, and he stopped having daily migraines when we stopped sending him to campus. Another just started home school for other debilitating somatic responses to school. And I have a younger one who barely made it through the year last year. I was ready to keep her home but my husband insisted on taking her. For months he had to physically dress her and carry her into her classroom with her literally kicking and screaming. She still won't get ready herself, but the kicking and screaming have stopped. She's getting bigger though. It won't be long before we can't force her to go (and I'm already unhappy with doing that). Just telling parents to send their kids to school 100% shows they believe parents are the provlem.