Society’s Burden Too
As an alternative education teacher, I must take issue with one point made in the Jan. 3 article criticizing dropout prevention in the San Diego city schools (“Evaluators Give Schools’ Dropout Prevention Efforts an ‘F’ ”).
Teachers are not “failing to take into account” family problems that contribute to student failure, but they are often faced with insurmountable odds in effecting change in these dysfunctional families.
Students who see their parents abusing drugs or each other, or rarely see their parents at all, are extremely difficult to motivate. Getting personally involved with these families is frustrating, disappointing and maddening.
The restoration of the family is a societal responsibility, not the burden of educators alone. Dropout prevention must begin with family intervention--a very complex and demanding task.
RONALD BRUNO
Temecula
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