De kortste weg

Samenvatting

A recent investigation found that 2.6 of the children who finished elementary school did not continue their education. Further research into this group determined that 59% were boys and 41% were girls. They were an average of 14 years old, 2 years older than the average child who finished elementary school. A substantial majority of these students had failed a class at least twice. Performance on standard tests was generally poor. The families of these children tended to be lower class; 66% were from families where the father was an unskilled laborer and 16% where the father was a skilled laborer. Most came from home environments with 5 or more children. The reasons cited for not continuing their education included: the feeling that previous performance had been so poor there was no reason to continue (25%), the children desired to quit school and parents agreed (25% of m's and 50% of f's), and the children chose to leave school and the parents eventually agreed (50% of m's and 25% of f's). While teachers often felt these students were capable of attending at least a vocational secondary school, this was not always their recommendation to parents. Children who do not go to a secondary school for reasons other than poor ability, often regret that decision later. This group merits further investigation. 1 table. P. Tiersma