By
Pacheque Barber
As a first time intern and being able to
actually see what it’s like from the inside out concerning issues of truancy
and dropouts, I’m able to get a better understanding of how issues are being
handled. My main question about dropout rates and truancy was ‘Why can’t the
Board of Education just come up with a solution that benefits all students?’
Even though I knew it was more complex than just a simple solution, I just
didn’t realize how complex it actually was. As I began to learn more about
dropout rates, I learned that there is no one simple solution for these
problems. An article I recently read called “Solving the dropout jigsaw puzzle”
by Matt Harvey who is the Assistant Managing Editor for The Exponent Telegram,
hit on certain points with which I completely agreed. In his article, Harvey
quoted Delegate Marty Gearheart who represents West Virginia’s Third
Congressional District. Gearheart stated that West Virginia has about a twenty-two
percent dropout rate. Harvey broke that statistic down: “two out of every ten
kids who start out in kindergarten won’t make it to where they obtain a
diploma.” That alone shocked me, because we constantly hear about dropout rates
and percentages but rarely understand what those numbers mean until they are
actually broken down.
Dropouts and children who are truant are
more likely to get into trouble with the law and possibly end up in prison. The
prisons are overcrowded and the wheels are turning in the minds of those trying
to prevent youth from being imprisoned; maybe one of the solutions is to
continue to push students to keep them from dropping out. Harvey states that
many defendants who show up in the courts are without diplomas or a GED. Harvey
mentions Judge Alan D. Moats who looks over the Taylor/Barbour County in West
Virginia who has a plan to target truancy early to prevent kids from dropping
out. Moats’s plan continues after getting a hold of truancy early; he will not
stop there but continue to stay on top of things to make sure that the kids are
staying in schools and not behind bars.
Harvey mentions another thing to
consider is that no child is the same and each child learns differently and is
faster in some subject areas than others. One point he made that stood out to
me was that trying to use the same educational methods and strategies may not
be adequate for all students. And if the schools are trying a “one way” method
without considering those who are not on the same levels, some students would
be “bound to fail miserably.” Harvey explains not every student is a fast
learner; there are some who need more time to process and understand the
information being presented to them. Another issue may be the student isn’t
getting the proper support from home. These issues appear very early in the
education system and such children are labeled as troublemakers and are quickly
over looked.
Altogether I was pleased with this
article and agreed with the points that Harvey made. The dropout and truancy
issues don’t have just a one solution fix and that the problem is a jigsaw
puzzle. I do believe that there are many pieces in this puzzle and that
focusing on a few pieces at a time will help complete the bigger picture which
is helping our youth.
Below is the URL for the article so that
you can read it yourself. I really do think this is an interesting short read
and highly suggest reading it!
