Last week, some German parents who took their kids out of school early were stopped by the police at the airport. The police were making reports on students who didn't have permission (许可) to miss school.

Like many places, it is against the law to skip (不参加) school in Germany. Children over the age of 9 can't miss classes without permission from the school. But during busy travel time, some parents take their children out of school early to save money on vacations. People can often save a lot of money on flights and hotels by going at a different time than others.

Last weekend was the beginning of an important holiday period in Germany. People in charge of the schools asked the police to check and make sure that students weren't leaving for vacations before they were allowed to.

Police officers at three German airports looked for families with school-aged children. When they found them, the police pulled the families out of lines to talk with them. They wanted to find out if the parents had permission for the children to be out of school. If the children did not have permission, the police reported the families to their schools and to the government. In all, the police reported about 20 families.

These families will have two weeks to show that it was okay for their children to miss school. If they can't, they may have to pay as much as $1,200 as a fine (罚款), or receive some other punishment.

Germany is not the only place where parents have to pay fines if their children miss school. Many other countries and many of the states in the U.S. have similar laws.

The good news is that the families were allowed to go on vacation after they talked to the police. But they might have a big bill waiting for them when they get back.

Students often say their teachers give them too much homework. Now two reports show that it is not true in America.

The Brookings report shows that most middle school students do homework for only 40-50 minutes. It also shows students in France, Italy and England need two hours on homework. And students in China and Japan spend more than two hours on homework a night.

The Rand report shows that only 10% of middle school students need two hours a night to finish homework. In America, parents want their children to have time for sports, music lessons and other things after school. After students finish their homework, they can play sports, read books and listen to music with their parents. It sounds great! Some experts also say that schools need to give useful homework to their students, but not too much.