High school teachers, help me out here.

[MichiganVote]

6. Who says we do?

States are free to determine an 'age of consent' when it comes to attending school. At 16 in Michigan, with parent permission, youth can quit school. There has been talk of raising that to age 18.

Local counties have truancy officers. Like everything else when it comes to education--there is usually one, maybe two for very populated areas, for an entire county of school districts. They get referrals, have to check out whatever data there is, contact parents and refer cases to the local courts.

Many times the families are experiencing trouble-drugs,alcohol,housing--usually the more serious stuff. But like I said, takes a system to provide support to the families and / or kids. Regardless, no significant case of truancy will ever have nearly enuf' of the societal supports needed at this time.

When a case is referred to court, it often languishes. Court types are reluctant to place in kid in juvenile for not attending school. One, they often lack space and need the beds for far more serious problems, and two, the follow up that is necessary by the court/truancy office is very labor intensive. Often the kids or families 'disappear' into their family systems who usually complain about the schools or the kid. Go figure.

In my experience, truancy among kids, like tooth decay, is not a problem that arrives overnight. Kids with truancy problems usually come from backgrounds that place more value on other things. Sometimes the kids are overindulged and allowed to stay home too often by caregivers. At other times, nobody in the home really wants to expend the energy to be responsible. In addition, for some kids school has meant trouble for a variety of reasons and the caregivers often give up. As the kids get behind and they progress in grades, school is a 'failure activity'. Not something most of us want to do. They are behind in their skills, they give up, they quit. Like a hereditary health condition, this circumstance runs in families.

If you show me a school record that shows excessive absences from grades k-2nd, I'll show you a kid who will be truant and / or will quit school. So long as this country's leaders continue to provide mere lip service about the importance of an education with next to nothing in meaningful support, nothing will change other than who gets the blame. Edited to add: The problem is not about our students lacking good smarts to perform Math or Sciences. The problem is our will to support our young to learn and attend school--no matter what.