Essay: Truancy caused by family problems

Sample Essay

Problems in families play an important role in causing truancy, and, in too many cases, parents actively encourage or condone truancy. Poverty and fear of a lack of job opportunities can undermine young people’s motivation. Most deadbeat parents have nothing to say about their children not going to school (Bishop, 2002). Children are more likely to skip school if they come from poor homes and irresponsible parents.

Children can become disinterested when school seems boring, too difficult, or unlikely to lead anywhere. Many schools and other agencies lack the training, support, or simply time to get to the root of some very difficult problems. Like others with low qualifications, those who miss school are more likely to be out of work at age 18 and are more likely to become homeless. For example, over three-quarters of homeless teenagers in one study were either long-term non-attendees or had been excluded from school (Holmquist, 2003). Truancy definitely has the nation’s attention because truant behavior can lead to many other social problems. Truancy had been labeled as one of the top 10 problems in this country (DeKalb, 2003). Truancy has costly effects which lead to more social problems such as costs borne by the police, courts and prisons, the social security budget or by the victims of crime. The government is already substantially overhauling the system for dealing with young offenders. Tackling truancy should contribute to stopping youngsters being drawn into crime in the first place (Bishop, 2002).

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