THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 8, 1995 TAG: 9509070018
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
In back-to-school reports this week, The Virginian-Pilot described several school policies that have caused needless controversy.
First, in Virginia Beach, attendance rules have been adopted that penalize students with too many absences. Exceed the allotted number and a failing grade can result.
And now, parents of students in all Virginia public schools will be required to assist in the disciplining of their children if they prove unruly or disruptive. Failure to cooperate can be punished by a $500 fine.
Astonishingly, some parents are critical of these policies for usurping their authority or thrusting the schools into what they regard as family business.
But haven't parents and taxpayers - perhaps even some of the same parents now complaining - repeatedly blasted schools for being too lax? Objections to the new policies put schools in the position of damned if they do and damned if they don't. First, they're told they aren't rigorous enough. Then, when they make demands, they're second-guessed and told to lighten up.
In truth, the policies proposed look like a bare minimum. There have always been demands for regular attendance. Woody Allen may have been joking that showing up is 90 percent of life, but he had a point. Before students can succeed or fail, they've got to put in an appearance.
Some parents who have complained apparently want to take their kids out of school for travel and think the rules shouldn't apply to them. They ask why their children should have to sit in class if they can pass without doing so. But how do they know that in advance?
Furthermore, education isn't just passing tests. If it were, all degrees might be of the mail-order variety. Instead, it's necessary to participate in the process of learning day by day to gain the full value.
Besides, school is a contract between students and teachers. Each is expected to fulfill certain responsibilities, and it hardly seems unreasonable that one for students should be turning up regularly. Teachers can hardly be expected to adapt classes to 25 different schedules. And students who do manage to graduate will soon discover that the workplace also expects regular attendance. Students may as well get in the habit.
Parents who have legitimate reasons for taking their children out of school may request an exception. Expecting them to do so hardly seems like an onerous burden. If schools didn't care when students came and went, parents would find that even more alarming.
As to the question of discipline, schools can't operate without order. The state is right: When schools identify students as unruly, parents have a duty to help discipline the troublemakers.
Parents who refuse to comply with attendance policies or to make their obstreperous children shape up have nothing to complain about. They have the right to enroll their children in public schools but not to run them. If they find the rules too intrusive or confining, they are free to seek private schools more to their liking.
KEYWORDS: EDUCATION OMNIBUS by CNB