Students are not showing up in public school today, as attendance is no longer desired by parents. Many public schools have become places of indoctrination by the Left, or downright dangerous to attend.
No one can continue to blame this on Covid-19 when schools shut down. Absenteeism is severe long after the pandemic subsided, as in Nevada where more than a third of the students are chronically absent.
Only 42% of American adults are reportedly satisfied with schools, a 20-year low. Disillusionment with costly higher education is increasing and that may have a spillover effect on attitudes toward secondary education too.
This disappearance of students in classrooms is not merely a few teenagers skipping out for some fun, which is not new. Elementary students who need to learn fundamental skills during that period of their lives are not being taken to school.
Just five years ago only 7% of elementary public schools had chronic absenteeism by 30% of students. But in 2021-22, the percentage of elementary public schools having chronic absenteeism shot up to 38%. Thanks to the Democratic empowerment of the Teachers’ Unions during the Biden-Harris administration, American public schools have become cesspools of leftism and crime. It is no wonder that students aren’t showing up.
There needs to be greater discipline in our schools, and proper discipline means that students and teachers have a recognition of some sort of order to conform to. Having a higher order to guide behavior, though, does not fit into the liberal thinking of libertinism, spontaneity, and tolerance.
To fix this issue, the government needs to take away the special privileges that have been given to Teachers’ Unions and stop promoting liberal values. Leftist ideology, especially about race, holds students back based on their skin color and prevents meritocratic excellence from forming. Adjustments based on race are no substitute for proper discipline. An example that public schools can learn from is public schools on military bases, which have higher standards of behavior and are more diverse than other public schools!
This post originally appeared at https://www.phyllisschlafly.com/family/chronic-absenteeism-in-public-schools/
