Who Do You Blame When the Kid Is A Brat?

UK Education Secretary Charles Clarke has a plan to fine and penalize parents whose children cut school. Earlier this year a woman was sentenced to two months in jail (or gaol) after "her two teenage daughters played truant from their school in Oxfordshire." Also on the table: parenting classes for 'rents who can't get their kids to attend. "These measures are about ensuring we as government do all we can to restore order in our classrooms," says Clarke. "It is time to restore respect for authority in its rightful place."