Fines for truancy: another band-aid on a gaping wound
by Eric Braxton on Apr 29 2009 Posted in High schools
Students arrive for school at Furness, a neighborhood high school. This photo is from our edition on high schools.
The city is about to start issuing fines to parents whose students skip school. I know a lot of people like this plan. They say it will help catch the attention of parents. They say we need to hold parents accountable. While I think those ideas are fine, and I’m not that worried that $25 fines are going to ruin anyone, my reaction is, is this really the best we can come up with to solve a major crisis in our city?
Let’s face it, our neighborhood high schools are broken. These fines may make a few more students show up, but they will do nothing to solve the underlying issues that our neighborhood high schools don’t work and students don’t want to be there. I’ve spent time in some schools that I would gladly pay $25 a day not to go to. I’m all for personal responsibility, but as long as we try to solve this problem by punishing students for not going to school rather than asking ourselves (and them) why they don’t want to be there, we will not solve this.
I give the Dr. Ackerman and her team some credit. They have been pushing the idea of completely turning around failing schools and maybe they will have some success.
If we are going to get serious about solving this problem, however, we have to recognize that while everyone has shared responsibility, the primary problem here is not with our students or parents, but with our woefully inadequate and outdated neighborhood high schools. While there are many outstanding teachers and administrators working in these schools, the system just doesn’t work. It is based on a 19th century factory model that was designed to sort students: a few for college and the rest for the factories. Unfortunately, those factories are long gone.
What this means is that now is the time to really revision what secondary education is all about. We need to start asking some tough questions such as:
- How do we best prepare young people for the challenges of the 21st century?
- How do we make education relevant to young people who are dealing with the challenges of poverty?
- Where are their models of neighborhood schools that are being successful with low-income student populations?
It’s not that the fines for parents will do major harm, but isn’t it time that we get to the root of the problem? Our young people deserve better. I look forward to other’s thoughts on how we can truly solve this crisis.
Comments (4)
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 05/01/2009 - 14:47.
This is absurd!What about the parents who send their kids to school every single day--and their kids don't go to school? How will it be enforced?! Clog our jails? Use more paper that could go to schools like mine. Maybe if schools didn't make kids feel unsafe they would go. Everyday in my school, I have students beg to stay in my classroom during lunch because they are not comfortable in the cafeteria. The answer is smaller, more personal schools that focus on relationships and instruction. When will we learn that these warehouse high schools do not work?!
Submitted by Erika Owens on Tue, 05/05/2009 - 15:00.
If you check Eric's blog, he's written about small schools in the past as well. It does seem like the disconnect between a parent doing everything they can and a kid still not going to school would be hard to address. You can give a parent a ton of fines, but like you say, if the schools are unsafe the kid still isn't going to want to go, no matter how much pressure you put on the parent.
I guess, putting on the most rose colored glasses possible, maybe this extra pressure will be the last straw that gets some more parents involved in organizing to improve the schools, build small schools, etc. Definitely don't think this is a good way to go about that, but could be one semi-positive result.
Submitted by anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 05/07/2009 - 15:48.
Now, there is a good looking school...
I wonder who designed that school...so that it looks like the facade to a concentration camp?
Perhaps in its day it was a nice place...but after years of neglect and vandalism...it becomes to look hellish...
That school in particular has had 3 robberies since June of 2008...a real success story...
Submitted by Ron Whitehorne on Fri, 05/08/2009 - 13:09.
My son was a chronic truant from 5th grade on. Adopted at age 8, he came to us with some serious emotional problems that grew worse when he reached adolescence. We attempted to work with the schools to address his problems. We had him evaluated, we attended intensive counseling with him, we sought to hold him accountable for his behavior. I would drive him to school every day and take him into the building but more often than not he would simply find the nearest exit.
As a middle school disciplinarian I met many other parents who were trying hard to deal with children who neither the school or the family could control.
The standard should be are parents making a good faith effort to comply with the law regarding school attendance. Are they taking responsibility for their child's behavior? If they are it is both unfair and ineffective to fine them. Give them some help and guidance. If they are not then there is a case for fines or other measures that might get them on track. That's what due process is all about.
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