[Winona Online Democracy]
I agree that it is not always the teachers fault when a child fails. However, in the
scenarios you described, Cherisa, it would seem to be more the fault of the parents
than the child.
The law requires all children under 16 in Minnesota to be in school unless they have a
legitimate excuse (excluding those who are "home schooled", which is another whole
issue), which, as a parent, i'm sure you know.
During my last term in Law School i participated in a "Child Advocacy Clinic". One of
our responsibilities was to represent kids at the Hennepin County Truancy
Hearings. I can not begin to explain how often the kids we encountered there had
little or no parental involvement in that aspect of their lives. Some times the
parents wouldn't even show up.
I realize that perhaps the parents couldn't miss work for an entire morning. Since we
were working through the PD's office, these were kids from poor families and ~ big
surprise ~ virtually every one was a person of color (apparently rich or middle-class
white kids never skip school in Hennepin County?) who probably didn't feel they could
tell the boss they had to be with their kid in court, but nonetheless the lack of
parental involvement appeared to run much deeper than just not being with the child
that particular morning.
Dean Lanz
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