EDITORIAL: Absent students and missing values

If you don’t show up, you can’t learn, and more and more young people just aren’t showing up for school.

That may partly explain why Americans have a gnawing sense of despair about our education system’s ability to prepare the next generation.

Unbelievably, almost 20 percent of students in high school have been chronically absent — missing more than three weeks of school in a year.

That’s according to a new survey prepared by the U.S. Education Department after tabulating numbers provided by more than 95,000 public schools. The numbers are not nearly as bad for elementary-school students, but altogether 13 percent of students are chronically absent.

Anyone who has ever helped a student with homework knows that even if you attend school every day, you may have a hard time keeping up with new concepts and study techniques. If you are missing days and weeks at a time, it will be virtually impossible.

Interestingly, the report also promotes the idea of limiting the use of suspensions as a disciplinary technique since it takes children out of the classroom and may lead to more problems down the road.

There was actually a 20 percent drop in suspensions from the number reported two years ago, which one Education Department official called “a tremendous testament to our educators’ commitment to making sure the students are in school and can learn.”

Well maybe. Or maybe it is just one more indication that the educational system is collapsing under its own weight. It’s hard to see how lax discipline is going to have the intended effect of making truants take their education more seriously.

Moreover, there is always the chance that the increased presence in the classroom of students who don’t want to be there will diminish the learning environment for those who understand just how important education is to real-life outcomes.

As always, there is no easy answer. These numbers provide a snapshot, but the solution is probably not going to come from government; it has to start with parents and communities. A good education begins with good values.