Dr. Dennis O’Keeffe, an internationally acknowledged expert on the subject of truancy and it’s causes, has just published his latest book on the subject.
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Dr. O’Keeffe and I collaborated on minimizing truancy in Chicago High Schools in the mid-1990’s.
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There’s no one more versed in the theoretical aspects of this subject.
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Press here for more information.
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5 comments:
"Don't Fence Me In: Essays on the Rational Truant assumes that most truancy is the logical outcome of rational decisions made by students in the face of the circumstances that characterise their school experience."
This describes my Mother to a T. She would spend her days at the library, reading whatever sounded interesting.
She described her public education as the most disappointing experience of her life.
She didn't graduate H.S., but remains one of the sharpest women I've ever known and she's gone on to have a very successful life.
Not having that H.S. diploma limited her and she and my Father made sure my siblings and myself got the best education our parents could find and afford for us.
This book sounds like a must read.
Thanks!
I am a member of a School Board. My district refuses to acknowledge it's truancy problem.
Where can I get a copy of this book? For that matter, how about a dozen?
I will get hold of Dr. O'Keeffe to see if we can't possibly find a way to secure several copies of these books, quickly.
There are 2 main causes for truancy. One is kids suffering from depression. The parents do not recognise it or for some reason the kids don't get the required medicine.
The second is just plain old parent incompetence. In most truancy cases you can look back at records showing the parent let the child stay home from school or kept them home. they miss 10 days of 1st grade and the 12 daysin 2nd grade and it keeps escalting because the parents don't care or realise the need for education.
I worked as a truant officer in Suburban Cook County and the records showed these reasons to be the case in 80% of the cases I handled (I handled 800 to 1000 cases per school year)
In most cases a letter from my office or a meeting with parentws would get the kids back to school on a regular basis. Approximatly 10% of these cases ended up with the parent(s) ending up in court, some ended with jailing the parent.
In my view, truancy is mostly a curricular or pedagogic phenomenon. Students cut school or class because of the inadequacies of school and class.
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