Kerby Anderson

The school year has ended, and we will soon find out how many students were missing and how many school desks were empty. I was unaware of the problem until I read the op-ed warning, “The Empty Desks are Telling Us Something.” The latest data from 39 states and the District of Columbia found that 23 percent of students were chronically absent in the 2024-25 school year. The percentages for the most recent school year will likely be similar.

State legislatures have addressed this problem by threatening students or parents. They threaten students with the loss of a driver’s license. They threaten parents or students with fines or even jail time. Apparently, the carrot (graduate and get a meaningful job) has given way to the stick (threaten them).

Let me suggest something else. Perhaps the public schools aren’t providing an educational experience that students value. Students in the inner city unfortunately receive an inadequate education, as illustrated by virtually every test administered over the last decade. Even students in better schools must wonder why they must sit in boring classrooms when just a few years ago during the pandemic they were told to stay at home and try to learn online.

As the attached op-ed reminds us, boys don’t do as well in reading as girls, they have more learning disabilities, and they are more likely to be expelled. They may need the most help, and often are the least likely to receive it. “Chronic absenteeism, in this light, is not merely a failure of discipline. It is a performance review.” Perhaps that is why more than a million students left the public schools for private schools and homeschooling.

These empty desks are telling us something. I don’t think many educators are listening.