Students Nation Wide Are Missing Out On Education

Education has always been considered a great and necessary requirement for the youth of America. However, it can be difficult to mold the minds of tomorrow if they don’t show up to class. Based on recent studies by an Associated Press analysis of Education Department data, over 6.5 million students in the United States missed at least three weeks of school this past academic year.

This issue was especially prominent in Washington, D.C., our nation’s capital. Almost a third of the entire student body missed over two weeks of classes over the course of the year. Other states that had this issue were Washington and Alaska.

Every state differs in its rates of absenteeism. The average of students nation-wide who were missing school at an alarming rate was 13%. Bob Balfanz, the director of the Everyone Graduates Center, found this quantity shocking, and hypothesized that a correlation can be found between the absent students and the current high school dropout rate. “If you’re not there, you don’t learn, and then you fall behind, you don’t pass your classes, you don’t get the credits in high school and that’s what leads to dropping out,” he claimed.

There hardly seemed to be any particular demographic that was absent more so than others. Girls are just as likely to be missing school as boys, and not coming to school isn’t a habit that can be pinned down to a particular race. Students from all walks of life are skipping school to an outrageous extent.

These statistics don’t necessarily mean that all hope is lost; there were some states found to be on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. Florida exceeded all expectations. As it turns out, Floridian students were the most present in their studies – only 4.5 percent of students were repeatedly absent.

Balfanz proposed that the reason that kids are absent from school isn’t always truancy. Some students choose to not attend school for reasons regarding their family or even their own personal safety. (That’s not to say that there aren’t children in America who don’t just skip school for the fun of it.) Balfanz believes that the proper solution to this chronic absenteeism issue is to paint school and general education more positively in the eyes of the youth. Many children hate going to school. If their time in the classroom was more fun and positive, they would be more inclined to attend. Furthermore, each child who is absent to a remarkable extent should be asked why so a proper, individualized solution can be found.

There is absolutely no good reason why a young boy or girl should be missing three weeks or more of school out of one year. Things happen, and things come up, but to be missing out on an education is harmful in the long run and can have a detrimental effect on a child’s development. As recent disturbing statistics have shown, many students are falling behind in their educations – an issue that deserves national attention.

Featured Image via Flickr/Lead Beyond