Dropouts aren’t cheats

As an educator of at-risk students – the dropouts, fallouts, homeless, abandoned, underfed, under-attended, abused, kicked out, talented, resilient, determined youth working to earn their high school diplomas despite tremendous odds – I am dissatisfied with your judgmental simplification of the dropout rate, proposing the primary cause is “young people stupidly flushing it down the toilet … cheating themselves and the community.” This kind of value judgment is too expensive for a healthy community that is considerate of all of its citizens and circumstances.

Your opinion dismisses and discounts the attempts for positive resolve and meaningful progress inherent in Prop. 1 by crying “where is the proven method?” Proof is something that comes after you try something. Our children deserve this and many other efforts. Our children are not stupid.

It is easy to stop supporting and funding our communities’ at-risk youth or youth who have dropped out when they are portrayed as stupid, wasteful cheaters. But this portrayal is incorrect and dangerously undignified. I invite you to come visit my classroom, come to my school and dig a little deeper, hear the success stories, talk to the young people, examine the stats and true causes of dropping out.

Jennifer Compau

Spokane