Truancy

Truancy is Generally defined as unexcused absence from school. As such, it is a violation of school rules and of state law. Students who have excessive absences, as defined By a statute in a specific [Page 1310]jurisdiction, are subject to sanctions By the state through the juvenile court. usually, however, the front line of dealing with this is through the affected school or school district. In addition, parents who are ineffectual, uncooperative, or hostile to the school's or court's efforts may be held criminally liable for their child's truancy and subject to fines, or rarely, incarceration.

In the past playing hooky, or being truant, was seen as a minor transgression—even a springtime rite of passage when boys would head to the old fishing hole rather than spend a stultifying day in the prototypical one-room schoolhouse pondering Latin grammar or solving mathematical problems. But, modern social science and criminological research paints a much grimmer reality for truancy and dropping out. One critical issue is that children who are out of school miss out on learning and fall behind, sometimes far behind, their cohorts. they then become discouraged and are much more likely to drop out than those who are not habitually truant. As such, they are more likely to become delinquent, make less money throughout their lives, have a series of dead-end jobs, and are unlikely to advance in economic terms. they are more likely to become delinquent simply because they are outside of adult supervision while truant, are in the company of other Similarly antisocial young people at that juncture, and are additionally socializing with underemployed and unemployed young adults who have discretionary money, freedom, and time. This increases their discontent with the structure of their status as minors and with school and leads them into situations where precocious sex and experimentation with alcohol and illicit drugs is likely. With parents working or absent truants are prone to use the family home as a locale for deviant and delinquent activity. It is no accident that most unintentional teenage pregnancies are conceived in that very context.

National statistics on truancy are notably lacking. Informed sources estimate that truancy varies from 10 to 30 percent. Some schools, Generally in the urban districts, have truancy rates as high as 40 percent. Such high rates negatively impact school funding as state support is based on school attendance. However, some have suggested that some school administrators, realizing that truants are not the best students, do not actively discourage truants or dropouts in order to achieve higher scores on standardized tests. These students, many of whom will drop out eventually, are called push outs. Additionally, administrators and teachers see many truants as potential troublemakers and are not unhappy to see them no longer in attendance. Also, some educators and sociologists in the past opined that truant dropouts would be happier and productive once free of the oppressive environs of school. While that may have been true when factory jobs and manual labor occupations were plentiful, that belief no longer holds sway in academe or in educational circles. The notion that truants are bright diamonds in the rough who are simply turned off By the routine of modern educational methods and institutions is not borne out By research. It is clear that no one benefits from truancy or dropping out, most especially the truants themselves.

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