Send Your Kids to School

I was drawing a blank the other day about a topic for my next blog.  Since I was out with my daughter-in-law and her two boys, I asked if she had any problems she would like to have me write about and share with the whole world. 

"As a matter of fact, I do," she said, and went on to explain that under Nebraska Truancy Law, if one of her children missed 20 days of school, for any reason, she would be held liable as a parent and would be summoned to court.  The penalties could possibly even include imprisonment or having her child removed from her home.  Sounds pretty harsh!  Why do we need such a law in the first place?

Maybe I am the wrong guy to ask.  In my four years of high school, I missed only two half-days; One when  I went to the county seat to get my learner's permit, and the other when I got my driver's license.  Admittedly, I went to school many times with a bad cold or the flu, and should have stayed home.  So, why did I think it was so necessary to go to school every day?  I think it was because school was pretty much my whole life at that time.  If I wanted to hang out with my friends, I had to go to school because that is where they were.  There were plenty of extra things to do, with singing groups rehearsing before school and sports afterward, it wasn't unusual for me to be in school for over ten hours in a day.  But I really loved school, and I almost felt sad when I graduated.

It wasn't because school was easy.  Several of our teachers were no-nonsense taskmasters and would not tolerate even gum chewing or whispering.  And our lady principal was the toughest one of all.  Looking back from adulthood, I realize that this was a well-run school, starting with our hard-nosed principal on down.  Their job was to educate us, and everyone was in lock-step to get it done.  Make no mistake - when we went out into the greater world, we could all read and write and do math.

OK, that was then - what about now?  My view is that school has a lot more competition when it comes to attracting a student's interest.  Thank the electronic age we live in for that!  Think about how easy it is for a student to piddle away three of four hours at a time with smart phones, video games, instant movies, and "chatting" with his friends.  School, by comparison, is pretty boring.  You have heard it all before - students need to have committed parents that stress the need for a good education and push them to get the most out of school.  We need to have top-notch teachers that encourage the students to want to do well.  We need to have the best books, equipment and facilities that we can afford.

Back to the Nebraska law.  I didn't read all the details, but it looks like an act of desperation to me.  Nothing else that the school has done has worked.  Parents generally are not stepping up the way they are supposed to.  And the kids know better, but don't seem to care about the consequences of missing school.  So the law has to step in with its draconian measures to force compliance with a heavy hammer.  Will it make a difference?  I doubt it.

One aspect of the law that I did pick up on was the addition of more layers of bureaucracy.  There are more reports for the teachers and administrators to fill out.  Case workers and special counselors will have to get involved, as well as the attorneys and the courts.  (Remember the big building I wrote about the other day?  These are the kind of birds that nest there.) 

It is awful easy to say that schools are generally lousy, but it is not necessarily true.  If a student wants to apply himself, a first-class education is absolutely available to him.  Most schools have all the tools that a serious student needs to succeed.  One of my teacher friends told me that one of Omaha's rowdiest schools has some of the best teachers and has graduated outstanding students. 

It is profoundly sad that such a law has to be written.  Attendance is a job that should be squarely in the hands of the parents.  But some parents don't care that much about their kids' education.  Other parents care a lot and feel that the law intrudes on their right to make the decisions that affect their children's lives.  Tough Call!

Bureaucracy - 1, Common Sense - 0