Dickerson: Making parents pay for kids’ truancy

Brian Dickerson’s column in today’s Detroit Free Press asks, “Should parents’ welfare benefits be slashed when their children are chronically truant from school?”  Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT) president Keith Johnson answers this question in the affirmative.  Under the DFT contract, teachers are held accountable for what their students learn.  But, according to Johnson, teachers can’t do their job if students don’t show up, so he is encouraging Detroit Public Schools to adopt an “attendance requirement that penalizes students and parents for unexcused absences.”

School truancy is a rampant problem in the Detroit Public Schools.  Dickerson cites data from the Detroit Public Schools that, “the typical Detroit high school student missed 46 days of instruction last year. Nearly a tenth of all high school students were absent more than 100 days. The school year is 183 days.”  With attendance statistics like this, it is no wonder Detroit Public Schools are the worst in the nation.

I think we can all agree that schools alone cannot be responsible for a child’s education.  It requires the schools, parents and the student to be active participants.  Most parents understand the value of an education and don’t need a nudge in right direction.  Tying school attendance to welfare benefits seems to be a reasonable requirement for those parents who need some kind of motivation to take an active part in their child’s education.

You can read Brian Dickerson’s column in the Freep here: Making parents pay for kids’ truancy

© 2010, Melinda Deel. All rights reserved.

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