> Education is important, missing a week can set a student back by a long way.

It will set some back, it won’t set others back at all. Telling a kid who can keep up or who is ahead of the class that they can’t take a vacation because another kid couldn’t keep up if they took a vacation is bizarre. It’s like saying that someone who’s ahead of where the class is needs to go to summer school because a kid in the class who’s behind needs to take summer school.

Why should we use the lowest performers as the baseline, and tell higher performers that they aren’t allowed to do things they’re fully capable of doing?

I agree. Our kids are very much ahead, in part because when we travel, they learn a lot. They seen new places, new ways of doing things, learn history, apply their math and other acquired knowledge, they often learn things ahead of time just because they interact with other adults, they get to use free time to apply their knowledge and interests creatively. And with the right timing, they get to see their relatives far away without it draining our savings, which makes them happy, which is not only important, but makes them better students as well.

If your kids can miss a week of school and not be impacted, you should investigate better schools.

I know why I am being downvoted: I am questioning the entitlements of the average tech worker.