THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, March 28, 1995 TAG: 9503280001
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 32 lines
Regarding the headline ``Good news: Scores, college prep. Bad news: Dropout rates, truancy'' (news, March 23): Could there be a correlation between these two statistical areas?
Are the students who are trying to learn and achieve being given a better opportunity to do so by the increased absence of those who have little or no interest in school and who are frequently a source of disruption in the classrooms? Perhaps we need to reconsider how much time, effort and money we want to expend tracking down, pleading and coercing to come to or stay in school those who are bent on not attending. Then we might reallocate those resources to the ``good news'' areas.
This may not be a politically correct approach to the dropout ``problem,'' but nothing seems to be working and funding for education is certainly ``on the bubble'' right now. Maybe it's time to cut our losses and let nature take its course. Eventually, the word will get around that dropping out carries a heavy lifelong consequence. When the level of pain becomes high enough and evident enough to the next generation, perhaps dropping out will fall out of vogue.
DON VTIPIL
Norfolk, March 23, 1995 by CNB