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Every generation says this, they still showed up and did the work. Do you honestly think a teenager that was drafted into WW1 wasn't scared for their future? Wh

Every generation says this, they still showed up and did the work. Do you honestly think a teenager that was drafted into WW1 wasn't scared for their future? What about people in the Spanish Flu or Polio epidemics? People in the 50s thought we'd all die in nuclear war. It's so annoying that people think our circumstances are worse than our ancestors. They aren't, unless you're literally at war, your life is better than anyone before you. Anyhow, kids are skipping school because their parents allow them to, it has nothing to do with "climate change," "COVID," or "the future." Parents should be heavily punished for truancy of their children, it's a form of child abuse/neglect. That's regardless of income, poor kids can't get out of poverty if they have no means to do so. That can be unpopular, it's irrelevant if it is. Kamala Harris got flack for that, but it's absolutely good to punish parents that allow this. If you disagree, you live in a bubble.

silverquiet 3y ago
Are you saying that this generation is somehow different from all the others not because of their optimism for the future, but because they lack work ethic? I think that elders have been complaining of following generations' work ethic since pre-history. But I distinctly remember kids being optimistic (I thought irrationally so; I was a pretty miserable child before it was cool) about the future when I was in school. They all thought they were going to get handed a lucrative job after they finished a four-year degree at some luxurious university.
- partiallypro 3y ago
  No, I'm not blaming the kids. I'm blaming the parents, I felt like I made this pretty explicit in my second paragraph. Virtually no kid wants to go to school. That's irrelevant. Some kids don't want to eat anything but junk food. You shouldn't let them. You're the parent. You cannot allow your kid to be truant. You are nearly guaranteeing them poverty, that is abuse and neglect, and it should be punished. There are some stories here of people saying it worked for them, this place isn't "most people," most people on HN came from families with money or had opportunities bestowed upon them. Reeks of privilege. Forget the doomerism of what a child might think, again it's about perspective. That's not even why these kids are skipping class to begin with, that's just some invention people here have said. We're talking about kids that can barely read or write, not HN poster kids with educated parents or good surroundings. People are skipping classes because their parents allow it, kids will look for excuses and always have. The parents should be held liable, and it's not just bad for the kids, it's bad for all of society. People arguing in favor of truancy are totally detached from reality for -most- people.
  - silverquiet 3y ago
    It's funny - in a sense I pretty much agree with you; I had to be cajoled into school and everything as well and found it fundamentally miserable. Certainly I understand that without an education the future is quite grim (especially for me as I have some physical disability). But after that treatment, I decided it was not something I could ever put a child through, so in that sense I have some sympathy for these parents. Though to me the solution is obvious; simply don't have children.
    - partiallypro 3y ago
      I think people should have kids, society and humanity cannot survive without children and children can be a gift. However, if you're going to be a bad parent and don't see their lives as your responsibility, not just for their own sake but for the sake of society... don't have kids. But if you do, and you -allow- your kid to be truant or become a criminal, etc., you should be punished and held personally liable.
      - silverquiet 3y ago
        Do you think people set out to be bad parents? And do you think that they can be punished into being good parents? It seems pretty tough to me. And yes, the idea of having children in order to feed them into the same meat-grinder of education and employment that I went through in order to perpetuate some cycle for reasons unfathomable to me is about the least convincing reason to do so. I used to think I was an outlier, but as fertility rates fall near continuously, I'm beginning to suspect that I was just early in realizing it.
  - linuxftw 3y ago
    For most of human existence, the great unwashed masses were illiterate, and society seemed to plod along just fine. Where's the sense in forcing children to spend the best years of their lives as automatons to an education system, just to be baristas at Starbucks anyway? Everyone simply can't work a white collar job, somebody has to clean the toilets. We should at least let those people enjoy their childhood.
jonhohle 3y ago
One of the lessons I learned as a kid that I’m trying to pass onto my kids: don’t let school get in the way of learning. There are things schools can’t or won’t teach and unfortunately for them, there value was significantly tainted when parents got to see what was happening every day in the classroom. I’m pulling my kids to go to see the solar eclipse in Texas next week. They’ll get to experience something that won’t happen again in the US for another 20 years, get to visit family they rarely see, and go to parts of the country they’ve never been to. Obviously I find more value in that than the day of school their missing.
- partiallypro 3y ago
  That's great, but that's not why these stats have gone up so much, and while that is technically "truant" in Germany, it's not in the US. The kids in these stats aren't going on fieldtrips or even vacations with their parents (it's funny that you can tell the wealth class of this little forum based on people making this claim.) Their parents are at work most of the time or maybe even just sitting at home with them. If you've ever grown up in a poor area, it's much easier to understand why the stats are going up.

silverquiet 3y ago

Are you saying that this generation is somehow different from all the others not because of their optimism for the future, but because they lack work ethic? I think that elders have been complaining of following generations' work ethic since pre-history. But I distinctly remember kids being optimistic (I thought irrationally so; I was a pretty miserable child before it was cool) about the future when I was in school. They all thought they were going to get handed a lucrative job after they finished a four-year degree at some luxurious university.

partiallypro 3y ago
No, I'm not blaming the kids. I'm blaming the parents, I felt like I made this pretty explicit in my second paragraph. Virtually no kid wants to go to school. That's irrelevant. Some kids don't want to eat anything but junk food. You shouldn't let them. You're the parent. You cannot allow your kid to be truant. You are nearly guaranteeing them poverty, that is abuse and neglect, and it should be punished. There are some stories here of people saying it worked for them, this place isn't "most people," most people on HN came from families with money or had opportunities bestowed upon them. Reeks of privilege. Forget the doomerism of what a child might think, again it's about perspective. That's not even why these kids are skipping class to begin with, that's just some invention people here have said. We're talking about kids that can barely read or write, not HN poster kids with educated parents or good surroundings. People are skipping classes because their parents allow it, kids will look for excuses and always have. The parents should be held liable, and it's not just bad for the kids, it's bad for all of society. People arguing in favor of truancy are totally detached from reality for -most- people.
- silverquiet 3y ago
  It's funny - in a sense I pretty much agree with you; I had to be cajoled into school and everything as well and found it fundamentally miserable. Certainly I understand that without an education the future is quite grim (especially for me as I have some physical disability). But after that treatment, I decided it was not something I could ever put a child through, so in that sense I have some sympathy for these parents. Though to me the solution is obvious; simply don't have children.
  - partiallypro 3y ago
    I think people should have kids, society and humanity cannot survive without children and children can be a gift. However, if you're going to be a bad parent and don't see their lives as your responsibility, not just for their own sake but for the sake of society... don't have kids. But if you do, and you -allow- your kid to be truant or become a criminal, etc., you should be punished and held personally liable.
    - silverquiet 3y ago
      Do you think people set out to be bad parents? And do you think that they can be punished into being good parents? It seems pretty tough to me. And yes, the idea of having children in order to feed them into the same meat-grinder of education and employment that I went through in order to perpetuate some cycle for reasons unfathomable to me is about the least convincing reason to do so. I used to think I was an outlier, but as fertility rates fall near continuously, I'm beginning to suspect that I was just early in realizing it.
- linuxftw 3y ago
  For most of human existence, the great unwashed masses were illiterate, and society seemed to plod along just fine. Where's the sense in forcing children to spend the best years of their lives as automatons to an education system, just to be baristas at Starbucks anyway? Everyone simply can't work a white collar job, somebody has to clean the toilets. We should at least let those people enjoy their childhood.

jonhohle 3y ago

One of the lessons I learned as a kid that I’m trying to pass onto my kids: don’t let school get in the way of learning. There are things schools can’t or won’t teach and unfortunately for them, there value was significantly tainted when parents got to see what was happening every day in the classroom. I’m pulling my kids to go to see the solar eclipse in Texas next week. They’ll get to experience something that won’t happen again in the US for another 20 years, get to visit family they rarely see, and go to parts of the country they’ve never been to. Obviously I find more value in that than the day of school their missing.

partiallypro 3y ago
That's great, but that's not why these stats have gone up so much, and while that is technically "truant" in Germany, it's not in the US. The kids in these stats aren't going on fieldtrips or even vacations with their parents (it's funny that you can tell the wealth class of this little forum based on people making this claim.) Their parents are at work most of the time or maybe even just sitting at home with them. If you've ever grown up in a poor area, it's much easier to understand why the stats are going up.