Seriously, I know you're supposed to suspend disbelief a bit (well a lot with this show) but they are never in school. They skip at least a few days every single episode. No repercussions. No making up work. Spending the night constantly out and not at home. If they were in college, fine, but it's high school. I hate when shows treat a cast that's supposed to be teenagers like a bunch of late twenty-somethings.
share[deleted]
You don't get held back but if you aren't attending school and you don't ace excuses for why you aren't there truancy officers will get involved. If needed so will CPS. A family friend had her license taken away because she kept getting tickets because her daughter kept ditching school. She was had to go to family court a couple of times cuz of her daughters behavior issue so she lost her job, so she couldn't keep up with the tickets do they took her car.
They don't always just let you get along cuz sometimes things get out of hand.
So much of this information sounds wrong. Truancy is a ticket, but it's not a traffic ticket so they can't take away her mother's drivers license for it. They also can't take her car away for not being able to pay the tickets. They could get a judgement for the tickets and put a lien on her car so that if she ever sold it then the court would get paid out of what she got for it, but they couldn't actually take the car.
shareThat's fine that you feel that way but that is what happened. This kid was missing a ton of days. Yes, it was several tickets. The tickets never got paid because they where super dysfunctional people (hence the missing school, not paying tickets) The two of them ended up with an assigned Social worker because they have a ton of problems.
I know it's not a traffic ticket but the woman's drivers licence was still suspended for failure to pay her ticket and the associated court cost because they had to go to truancy court because of her daughters absences all three times they got tickets.
The truancy laws are or at least they were insanely strict here (they just repealed them early this year). It was not unusual for kids to end up in Juvenile detention for skipping class. If not they get huge fines to avoid the pleasure.
You literally have to be in the hospital and have a doctors note or have proof that someone has died to get an excused absence here. My cousin had to forge a obituary so that it didn't count against her for the three days she came down to my dads retirement for the military a few years back. It's that serious here. I don't know what it is like where you live.
And I typed that wrong she lost her car because she got behind of payments not the tickets. She lost the car because she didn't have a job it wasn't directly related to the tickets. It just took her a long quite some time to get a job. She has two other kids and she didn't have daycare for the youngest plus without a valid license she had to rely on buses which aren't great here unless you live downtown. Or rides from people and no one really wanted to deal with all the drama at her house at the time.
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Shut it down
This has nothing to do with elementary school. Having the extra credits to graduate early & having absences are two different things. You can flunk for being absent too many times without having them excused by a doctor. You can't just ditch half a year of a grade & pass. School doesn't work that way. That's why it's called truancy. It depends where you live. If you're not in school, it's impossible for you to get the credit if you're not supposed to miss a certain amount of days. The credit doesn't just come from the work, but also from showing up to the class with the work. It's the unexcused absences that will kill you. My junior year I was sick a lot & never went to the doctors every time I didn't feel good & had about 6 more absences than I should've had & was about to be held back if I didn't get them excused & luckily I knew someone who worked at a doctors office that had some connections to some notepads. lol
"What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?"
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Well Carter is not in elementary school so you bringing it up was moot which was my point. In order to get credits, not only do you have to do the work & do it right, you have to show up. If you miss so many days in a row, you can lose credits; which is exactly why I said it may depend where you live. Schools/states have different policies. You think if kids could just ditch & still pass that kids would be still going to school the whole year? It doesn't work like that. I graduated in 2001 in MA & it's still like that here. A lot of schools only allow you so many missed days in a semester & a school year unless they're excused. Just like if you're flunking you're not allowed to participate in school activities including sports. I don't think the majority of high schools let you be your own boss when it comes to showing up & letting you worry about your own education. That doesn't sound like a very good school to me & nothing I've ever heard of.
And like I said, they have different policies everywhere.
"What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?"
Well Carter is not in elementary school so you bringing it up was moot which was my point. In order to get credits, not only do you have to do the work & do it right, you have to show up. If you miss so many days in a row, you can lose credits; which is exactly why I said it may depend where you live. Schools/states have different policies. You think if kids could just ditch & still pass that kids would be still going to school the whole year? It doesn't work like that. I graduated in 2001 in MA & it's still like that here. A lot of schools only allow you so many missed days in a semester & a school year unless they're excused. Just like if you're flunking you're not allowed to participate in school activities including sports. I don't think the majority of high schools let you be your own boss when it comes to showing up & letting you worry about your own education. That doesn't sound like a very good school to me & nothing I've ever heard of.
And like I said, they have different policies everywhere.
"What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?"
lol, yep and they always have money to burn on gas, food, booze etc despite not having any jobs. Oh and Cars, driving about like adults in their own cars. lol.
Don't get me started on the binge drinking practically every single night, or at least every weekend and having access to buy alcohol to begin with. No sign of addiction to the booze, but no sign of hangovers either.
Byrds house hasn't got repossessed despite her parents committing mortgage fraud. Also, No child services or relatives turned up to check on her - except for some mention of grandparents sending her money now? Really? No ones checking on a 16 year old who is living alone in their parents mortgage frauded house? Who is Partying most nights, drinking, smoking weed and popping pills perhaps, having other random teens staying over, unsupervised [Which the other parents would know].
Are all the adults utter flakes and let their kids do anything they want, unsupervised and without little repercussions to their actions? Don't seek to check up on anything, or anyone?
LOL. I know it's just a fun drama show - these things are perplexing when you really start to think about them.
I wouldn't worry too much.A truant officer finally visits the family in episode 14, and Carter IS forced to repeat the year. She decides to drop out.
shareThis storyline is so frustrating. And no character is dealing with the situation in any sort of inappropriate way. Carter grew up with a mother who didn't set any boundaries whatsoever, so she's used to being able to do whatever she wants. Lori probably didn't enforce school in any real way, so no wonder Carter is behind. And she never learned any discipline or work ethic because she didn't have to. And that's what schoolwork takes! Her parents, rather than getting her a tutor, and/or a therapist (god knows she needs one!) or figuring out how to deal with Carter's problems, just tell her she can't have what she wants and expect her to listen to them. All it would take is one person to make an effort to get through to Carter and actually help her plan her schoolwork and her future! Not having a high school diploma is a huge disadvantage and I can't believe everyone's letting Carter get away with it. :/
shareSure it is. And I'm hoping if this show goes on for at least a couple more seasons, they show Carter regretting her decision. But like the dad said, they were fighting a losing battle, since even if they did say no Carter would have likely dropped out when she turned 18 anyway. I'm kind of wondering where they will take this though. One positive thing I can say for it is that it's different from other teen shows that have the kids graduating and then going to college.
"I'd rather lose for what I am than win for what I ain't"
Kacey Musgraves "Pageant Material"
I'm wondering if they might show her dropping out in a positive light.
Not everyone is an academic, or can learn the way schools teach.
For a lot of people, myself included, become better people when they can work in a place where they are treated like a responsible adult; rather than being treated like a simple child in a schooling system that only cares about chastising and teaching very specific answers and ways of doing things, in order to get more funding.
Fact of the matter is there are just as many people who have completed highschool and college without jobs or futures, so it's not the huge advantage to have completed HS or College that people make it out to be.
Everyone's different, and not everyone wants to be a lawyer, or doctor, or teacher. Some want to run a small business, or work nights, and can earn good money with benefits from it.
Riddle wrapped inside an enigma, wrapped inside a taco.
I was wondering why getting a GED & Emancipated wasn't an option too. A number of teen shows/movies should have put those options on the table, but didn't.
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True however it's hard to get far if you are a high school drop out, while you don't have to go to college you should at least finish high school. Not sure what your background is but my aunt didn't finish high school and one of the reasons she insisted that we (My cousins, sisters, brother and I) at least get a high school diploma is because she says you don't know how hard it is not to have one unless you don't and more jobs look for you to have a diploma or a GED, then you think. Certain places will hire you but they won't let you move up unless you get your GED. Hence my aunt worked at Target but she couldn't even be considered for a shift lead position unless she got her GED, which she did eventually. Plus this is a teen show, I thought if they will show something like that in a positive light.
"I'd rather lose for what I am than win for what I ain't"
Kacey Musgraves "Pageant Material"
It's possible that after a few months, Carter may decide to get her GED. She might even discover she's good at mixing drinks and talking to people, and become a bartender rather than just a waitress. However, we all know that eventually she'll be found out, not being 22 years old and all. But maybe the seed will be planted regardless. She might even take a few business classes at a community college or something, where people aren't treated like children(and where she would be instantly accepted if she does get her GED).
shareI know that some of those small schools will help a person get a GED while training them in their field. I know one of the schools that train people to be medical and dental assistants here do that. I want to see where they go with this honestly since it's different then most teen shows to be honest.
"I'd rather lose for what I am than win for what I ain't"
Kacey Musgraves "Pageant Material"