It may be because they realise that it takes time to get papers publised from a PhD thesis, and they don't want to exclude recent graduates with no papers (yet) - from what I've seen it takes a year or so after submission to get the papers out.

Hang on, I've got another one:

A neutron walks into a bar and orders a pint. The barman says: Certainly sir, and for you, no charge.

What did one electron say to the other?

Don't get excited, you'll only put yourself into a state!

(while we're on feeble physics jokes)

Hallo Young.

I think most of us are based in the UK. Always nice to have more people on the forum!

But the ones in the news are there because they are newsworthy: i.e. unusual.
I still think that rather than withdraw (the easy option), the parents could do something to improve the situation - becoming a govenor, for example. I think it's that fact that it's a postion of luxury that irks me: working class parents could not afford to withdraw their children, simply because they need to be out earning money during the day. It's the Chelsea Tractor brigade
(I'm all right Jack)

What you say does happen, but they are extreme cases (except for supply teachers: they are often crap). But the job is to improve schools, rather than allow the middle class to withdraw en masse and leave the crap for everyone else to deal with.

I am sure that most home schoolers work hard to give their kids a good education and social network but some (including ones personally known to me) have pulled their children out and are not replacing that education or social network - it's to guard against this irresponsible minority that I think home-schoolers should be monitored by an OFSTED-like body.

Good point. Repeated exposure does normalize even the most grotesque things.

Well, I'm not a parent or a teacher so perhaps it's not my business. But my thoughts are

a) In high school, each teacher will have at the very least a Bachelor's in their specialist subject. No parent, no matter how smart or committed, is the intellectual equal of 20+ teachers.

b) And I totally agree about a child needing "socialization" (if that's a real word). I know kids can be mean to each other but that's no reason to run away and hide at home - what kind of message does that give a child? It also means that the child does not develop the skills to reason with difficult people - a vital part of life, I've found.

And while I'm on my high horse...what's with these parents that actually move house to get into a "good" school? Bonkers!

It's completely normal to feel more for Madeline than for thousands of other children: simply because a) we hear about her, unlike the many other children who disappear, and b) we can relate more to her family's situation. Likewise, technically it was hypocritical to get upset over the London tube bombs when those things happen to Iraqis on a daily basis, but it's normal to react more when a bad event happens on familiar territory.

I would ask your French guest precisely what steps she is taking to reduce human trafficking, since she feels so strongly about it.

I've had an extensive array of sh*te jobs during my student years. The worst was a family run chip shop/restaurant where I used to get yelled at by the boss's 14 year old daughter; I lasted 2 weeks in that place. As "menial" jobs go, I have found the best to be in friendly suburban pubs (not chain pubs or city centre pubs) where you get treated with some respect by customers. But like you, I found it very hard to get anything better: most employers, even those offering the crappest of crap jobs, seem to expect a promise of lifelong devotion from you.

Would probably like it if it wasn't for the lead character's dreadful "acting".

Thanks again for the advice everyone! I used to have a Dell PC, may be worth looking there too.

And in my responses to threads, too, it would seem That should read "articles".

I've made mistakes in reports before (not got to the thesis stage yet). I've found that as long as you mention it before anyone else does, then it's OK. After all I've seen mistakes in published arteci;es, textbooks etc. It happens.

Generalizing is never a good idea...but in response to the "do you know anyone who homeschools" question: yes, I do, and in that person's case "home-schooling" equals "no-schooling".

I'm sure that most parents do it with the best of intentions, but I think that the child's education should be monitored as closely as schoolteachers' performances are monitored. An education is too important to play around with.