Empty Desks

[George Sheridan <learn@jps.net>]

In the Los Angeles Unified School District, the median for Latino 
children is 27 days of absence per year, according to Dr. Robert 
Ross, a pediatrician who heads the California Endowment.

One response to this number might be to blame the children's 
families, or culture, or whatever. Another might be to tell teachers 
to quit making excuses and find a way to help these children succeed.

Dr. Ross observes that "You can't teach an empty desk." Then he 
suggests a way to get the children to school. Asthma is the leading 
cause of preventable absence among children, Dr. Ross reports. Once 
kids who were previously uninsured get health coverage, he adds, 
absenteeism falls by 40 percent.

A policy aimed at actually helping children succeed, rather than 
assigning blame for failure, would begin with assuring health care to 
all children.


George Sheridan