逃学的理由

Truancy Sweeps Reveal Scores of Bad Excuses

Truancy sweeps around Britain recently revealed thousands of children missed school — and turned up some ridiculous excuses, the Education Ministry said. The figures showed that of more than 12,000 pupils stopped by truancy patrols, around half were accompanied by a parent. "This is a situation that cannot be allowed to continue. Parents have to take responsibility otherwise they are jeopardizing their children's future," Education Minister Stephen Twigg said in a statement. "Around half of the children stopped with a parent had no good excuse for being out ofschool. Some of the reasons they did supply were unacceptable." Amongst the excuses given for missing school were: "because of a spot on my nose," "not liking Mondays," "because it's my birthday" and "my hamster died and I need to buy a new one." One parent was stopped with her child and said she did not have time to discuss why the child was not in school because she needed to buy a pair of jeans. More than 900 truancy patrols were carried out between April 29 and May 30. They were targeted at shopping centers and known trouble spots throughout England.

英国教育部说，日前的全国性逃课清查行动查出了数千名逃学的学童——以及一些荒谬的缺课理由。统计数字显示，1万2千多名被逃学纠察队截获的学生中有大约一半是和父母中的一个在一起。“这种情况不能再继续下去了。家长必须尽到责任，否则就是在葬送自己孩子的将来，”教育部长斯蒂芬·特威格在声明中说。“被发现时和一位家长在一起的孩子中有半数左右 没有不上学的正当理由，他们提供的一些理由也是不能接受的。”人们提出的不上学的理由包括“因为我鼻子上长了个疱”、“我不喜欢星期一”、“因为今天我生日”以及“我的仓鼠死了，我得再买一只”等等。一位和孩子一起被截住的家长说她没时间讨论孩子为什么没上学的问题，因为她得去买一条牛仔裤。英国政府在4月29日至5月30日间派出了900多名逃学纠察员，他们的目标是英国各地的购物中心和那些出名的问题场所。

Remarks：要是我们也有这样的清查行动就好了，至少可以知道应该在哪里多建几所希望小学。