With much hand wringing by Winston Brooks,
the subject of truancy came up at the Del Norte HS forum.
What ever should we do?
How about;
1. Concede that you can lead kids to education,
but you can't make them learn.
2. Start talking about how NCLB is sucking the fun out of
going to school, and driving truancy through the roof,
and what we are going to do about it.
2 comments:
It used to be a common belief that electives such as art, music, woods, languages, theater kept many kids in school that would otherwise drop out.
NCLB is indirectly causing the drop of electives, and eventually their demise. Sports electives are also being dwindled, and PE & sports classes may very well be eliminated in the near future, putting children's health (and interest in school) at further risk.
Gutless supes like Brookes won't even put up as much as a fuss about any of that. Before he was an official supe, one of his first priorities was to put a "moratorium" on elective developments/ new electives.
It's hypocrisy..... to say you care about kids, then you drive them away by dulling the hell out of them!
This is the 1 educational component (and perhaps the most important for success) that no one has much control of, except for the student themselves.
BArriers will not keep students in school, APD 7 truancy officers can't keep students in a place they don't want to be in, working parents can't monitor their students every minute, teachers & admin can't do anything about truancy if the child never sets foot on the school property the day they are truant.
Yet, the feds w/ NCLB have an attendance % requirement that steers a school towards the eventual goal of 100% attendance.
The answer lies in the students themselves, w/ some influence of the school system, parents and teachers. APS' "open campuses" and senior lunch off-campus privileges don't help but encourage truancy and truancy-related behaviors.
As long as we don't have truancy officers, real laws on the books for truancy, interesting classes and electives, and non-supportive or inattentive parents, this problem will never be resolved to any standard of satisfaction.
Hope that makes sense.
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