In what must be one of the most ridiculous judgements ever made by any British court, the Supreme Court yesterday overturned a High Court ruling about children and school.
Continuing an argument that's been going on for some time, the Supreme Court effectively ruled that schools know better than parents when it comes to their children and also ruled that the definition of the word 'regular' is a matter for individual schools to determine.
When I was at school, the meaning of words was fairly fixed and, in order to find out what a particular word meant, I would consult a dictionary. This is no longer the way to do it, or so says the Court. Although the law states that children are expected to attend school 'regularly', it does not define what 'regularly' means; consequently, schools have made what are essentially arbitrary rules and then sought to enforce these upon the parents of children whom they consider to be in the wrong by imposing fines on them. The High Court ruled that this was not in accordance with the law, but the Supreme Court believes otherwise.
According to the highest court in the land, consideration has to be given to all and sundry and what matters is the 'intention' of the lawmakers and the rules of individuals schools' neither of which are actually 'law'. In the first place, how does one know exactly what was the 'intention' of those who approved the law ? In the second, schools are not lawmakers and their arbitrary rules should not be sufficient to justify the imposition of what amount to legal sanctions.
The Supreme Court members who considered this case clearly had their own opinions on the matter and went to some lengths to find a way of supporting the government's side of the argument. However, their decision seems to be so flawed as to throw the law into total disrepute. No longer does it matter what the law actually says, it's what was intended; no matter what words really mean, it's what anyone says they do that's important. This is a world of insanity.
No comments:
Post a Comment