Why do people in the uk have to skive when it snows?

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Mars P & Roonil Wazlib & Hana

cos other countries who get more snow are more likely to have it more often, unlike parts of the uk who are not used to it
many kids live far away from their schools, about 2 hours on normal days, so imagine what it would be like on a snowday
and also, the government runs out of grit after a while - it is in short supply
and we rely too much on cars instead of walking

blue_eyesandy10

true what you say . no need to close schools i went to school in snow and snow in them days was bad i left in 1977 . to day if you send brats to school in snow what people think going to happen to them they melt or what . to kids wrapped in Cotton wool two much. these days they had off because of snow i would knock off there summer hols

Mark S

I think it is due to lack of committment, any excuse to skive. Most people who tend to skive and use snow as an excuse are salaried staff and they get paid regardless. If they were hourly paid they would make a greater effort.
In Germany where I come from we had longer and more severe winters in the 50's and 60's and I do not recall a missed school day due to snow. It was our responsibility to get to school despite a 2 mile walk along icy pavements. We just had to allow for it and leave the house earlier.

rhino

Well i'm a bricklayer and i haven't worked all week....it's not out of trying..but with the weather we've had it's been impossible to lay bricks as it's been too cold....hopefully builders don't come into this "skiving "category...?

EDIT...thanks for the thumbs down by the way.....very strange..

Franky J

Dangerous!!! We finally got sent to school today and some one fractured their ankle on the ice.

SophieM

Well I was off school today because of the snow that fell overnight. We don't skive though, the school will be closed because the site is too dangerous or not enough teachers can make it in (some of them live quite far away) etc. It is too dangerous too bring us in because there is the risk of injuries etc. It would be the schools fault then if one of us was hurt. I love snow days, they're fantastic. We don't get much snow in England, especially not where I live in the East Midlands so it isn't like the school is closed a lot of the time.

greenorlagh

It's not people all over the UK that skive when it snows. The people of Scotland get on with it, as do the Welsh and Northern Irish - who does that leave? Oh yes...the English, THAT'S who skives!

diva24

Where I live in London we had 13inches of snow Monday morning. The roads were not clear there was no public transport. Bad government planning? Maybe but when we're just not used to having so much snow (and are unlikely to have it again anytime soon) the government are unlikely to invest more than the little they have done.

I don't think that the teachers are too lazy to go to work, it just wasn't possible for them to reach the schools due to the road and transport situation. Even if they had been able to reach, would there have been enough teachers who could make it for the correct teacher to pupil ratio? Maybe not, and if some incident had happened, maybe a kid fell over, broke a leg etc etc then there would've been uproar that there was not adequate supervision.

All in all personally I don't think you can blame the teachers, or the parents, or even the children. Blame the culture which means people sue others for injuries to claim compensation and the government for not having the resources to handle with out of the ordinary weather conditions.

Also you sound so angry - chill out!

Kat

Because the roads are dangerous and its better to have the children alive than to miss a few days of school. Plus snow is educational in iteself! Its fun!

Qingda

A bit harsh, my friend! I have to agree that it sends the wrong sort of signal when schools and offices can be closed by a few inches of snow and when we find it acceptable that public transport is suspended. It does make me ashamed to be British. Have we really fallen so far? That is beyond disappointing and tells the rest of the world all they need to know about the state of Britain today.

bazjohn178

You are right, the UK seems to be surprised when it snows in the winter. I think the schools problem is that they don't want to be sued by some parent because their little child fell over in the playground.
In this last week, local authorities have been running out of salt, which is understandable, I mean it's only been one year since they last had a winter, and had to use it.

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