We all disapprove of it. That wasn’t the point you were debating. You were making the case for people being able to take their kids out of school during term-time. That was already discouraged/prevented/fined before Gove got involved.
I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and take your point seriously.
Firstly, Gove’s policy is as you said authoritarian, unhelpful and needlessly punitive. The fact that it’s hilariously snared a twat doesn’t detract from that. But that’s not the point under discussion.
The argument against taking kids out of school in term time is supposedly that it’s been demonstrated to be harmful to children’s education (not just the one taken out, also their classmates). That may also be bollocks, but that’s the case that’s made. One could suggest that alllowing poorer children to receive a substandard education would be a bigger social injustice than depriving them of Disneyland (a place most children will never go to).
It seems to me a preferable scenario would be something like the old one, where headteachers were allowed to exercise their skilled judgment in considering applications on a case by case basis, and were able to agree mitigating learning plans for the kids. That would seem to be a grown-up way to approach things.
The reason your argument is woolly is that you make this instance of rich privilege equivalent to other forms. That is not true. Expensive holidays are not a human right, and nobody ever suffered in any significant way from not ever having one.
