Mandatory School

Francisco Javier Vargas
Mrs. Mundo
English 11 Period: 1
20 August 2012

Going to school It's hard enough to get kids to take their education seriously when it's compulsory, I can't imagine the number of kids who would totally give up on the idea if they actually had a choice in the matter. “Mandatory attendance laws force many to attend school who have no wish to be there… The solution to this problem is simple: Abolish compulsory- attendance laws and allow only those who are committed to getting an education attend”. This is what Roger Sipher wrote in his article “So that nobody has to go to school if they don’t want to” that was published in the “New York Times” on December 22, 1997. The author states that mandatory attendance laws should be abolished because they force the people who have no wish of learning to attend school, that they get the teacher, and the dedicated kids of topic. I disagree with sipher’s argument that getting rid of mandatory attendance laws would improve the education system because every kid is entitled to an education and by abolishing these laws it would give kids the option of going to school. It would hurt the countries’ economy and the countries’ education system and it would look bad at an international level. By abolishing these laws parents would not get notified of when their kids are not in school, and this could eventually lead to a tragedy one day. Vargas 2
“A 1982 Supreme Court case, Plyler v. Doe, held that states cannot deny students access to public education, whether they are in the U.S. legally or not. “. What this means is that every kid in this country by law should be at school every day ready to learn. A lot of people want the mandatory attendance laws abolished, because of kids that go to school and don’t do any work and all they do is get everyone distracted, but I disagree with this argument. What school counselors and district official should do is send all the kids who get everyone distracted to special classrooms “Learning Center’s”. Getting these laws abolished would give kids the option of going to school, and getting an education is the foundation for a better life.
America is the country of opportunities millions of people worldwide dream of coming to, to find better job opportunities, better democratic ideals, better housing, but the number one reason why families risk it all and come to America the legal way, or the illegal way, is because they want their kids can get a better education, and have the opportunities that they didn’t have. By abolishing these laws it would make our country and our education system look bad at an international level. It would make our country look bad because a lot of people worldwide are going to hear about how in America going to school is not mandatory anymore, and a lot of people would not leave what very little they have to go to a country in which getting an education is not mandatory. Another reason why abolishing mandatory attendance laws would not be beneficial is that all those kids that didn’t go to school, and didn’t graduate would not be able to find a stable job and the countries unemployment rate would skyrocket.

Vargas 3
School is a place where parents can drop of their kids in the morning and go to work not having to worry of what they are going to do, because school is supposed to be a safe place where young kids go to learn. The abolishment of the mandatory attendance laws would change the definition of school completely. The new definition would have to be something likes “School, a place where you drop of your kid in the morning, but you don’t know if they went to class”. When a kid decides to ditch a class or the whole day of school the school calls home, or e-mails the parents and tells then that they didn’t go to any of their classes. Ditching school is a crime, but it is also very dangerous because you don’t know why the student ditched his/her class and what they are doing, or who are they with. When a student ditches class for any reason they are putting their life’s and other life’s at risk. Imagine your son/daughter ditched their class and when they were walking with their friends someone comes from the back and kidnapped your kid, and when you’re at work you get a phone call saying that your son/daughter was kidnapped because they decided that school was to cool for them, how would you react?
Mandatory attendance laws should not be abolish they are the key to the success of this countries education system, the growth of our economy, and the safety of the children. Mandatory attendance laws should not be abolished, because they are the key to success. If you want our country to be the role model for other countries act like you care and keep the mandatory attendance laws.