On Tuesday, September 3, 2013 The Texas Observer published an article titled Tough on Truants. It discusses the varying severity of punishments for truancy for students in Texan schools. Since 2003, students with irregular attendance records have been putting themselves at risk for fines and even jail time. What is even more interesting is how Texas school districts vary in cracking down and enforcing this law. It also discusses the potential harm that this law seems to be having on convicted students. This article suggest that some Texas school districts go overboard in punishing truants because they feel that’s the only power they have to combat kids skipping school. People should be aware of this issue because it says a lot about how poorly our educational system runs and how we, as Texans, tend to lean towards force rather than compassion.