[erimir]

I'm more concerned with the fact that children don't really know what's in their best interests, and a parent who would let their kid watch cartoons all day rather than get an education is setting their kid up to be an ignorant failure. It's in the child's interest to get an education, not just the state's.

And no, I don't have any qualms about forcing parents to send their kid to school in that situation. Of course, it is also the case that many of the parents who would let their kid do that probably shouldn't have their kids in the first place (a heroin addict would probably be the type that wouldn't care about their kid watching TV rather than learning anything, for example).