I ask because all through my school years and my kids school years the school had no authority to prevent my or their leaving whenever we pleased.
Oh they could huff and puff un3xcused absence but did not dare lift the first finger to physically stop me as they did not have that authority.
You are conflating (again) the legal ability to physically prevent a behavior from happening at the time it is happening from the ability to prohibit the behavior and lawfully assess a consequence for the behavior after it has happened.
Schools have the moral and lawful ability to:
1. State a policy that denies a student’s “right” to travel, to leave the school at will.
2. Assess consequences for violating a stated policy.
3. Attempt to restrain a student from leaving the school at will, up to a reasonable point to avoid assaulting the student.
4. Call the police who have a higher level of restraint which they can lawfully apply.
Not only do they have this ability, they have this
duty. They can be held liable in a court if they fail to maintain custody of a child and something untoward happens to him or her.
The conflation of which you are guilty (repeatedly) is an immature one that is essentially saying: “You aren’t the boss of me. You can’t make me.” In many cases, others are the boss of you. And while “making you” is not the route most people even want to take, they can assess consequences, and when the chips are down, they can call someone who legally can “make you”.
Rights are not a concept that allows you to do whatever you want, regardless of the impact on others. They are a concept that allows us to live together in a way that does not require us to
make each other do anything. Rights are a way of cooperating in society that allow us to do what we wish without interfering with the ability of others to do as they wish. That is the essence of my Razor below.
Rights are not nearly as meaningful when we demand what we perceive to be ours from others as they are when we respect the Rights of others.