Truancy will take at least a generation to fix

1 comment June 2nd, 2008

Rockford public schools’ chronic truancy rates have been double the state average for quite a while. You have to admire Mayor Larry Morrissey’s tenacity in attacking the issue, but it will take more than truancy courts and better access to information to fix this problem.

Most truants come from homes where the parents don’t value education. Those parents also grew up in households that didn’t value education. Until truant kids are convinced that education is the way out and up, change will be incremental.

You need to get to the root cause of truancy, which is much more difficult than ticketing and fining kids who miss school. Give them a reason to be there and give them a reason to stay. That might take a generation or two to take hold.

It’s better to be proactive, but you need the reactive steps also.

Get the kids back in school and who knows, maybe they’ll learn something.