I almost laugh out loud when I read some of these posts, and I mean that very literally.
After all the posts about how bad our education system is, from folks who do not live here, I must question the effectiveness of theirs, as well.
Especially the literacy part.
If you could, or perhaps would, bother to read all of the posts completely before coming to a conclusion, you may conclude that this girl was not jailed for truancy. In fact, she was jailed for non-compliance to a court order, which in any state in the US, is considered a crime. She had the choice to stay in school, or withdraw. She chose to stay. The stipulation was that if she chose to stay, she was required to abide by a court order. She chose to disobey the court order. She was jailed for her non-compliance. There is absolutely nothing "police state" or "socialist" about that. In fact, it is very black and white.
On a lighter note, I can hardly consider a weekend in the tank "prison" or "jail"