Truancy has a high price
Nearly one in ten 15 year olds are truant at least once a week
Truancy is a gateway to crime. Many truants are exposed to, and
become involved in, high-risk behaviors.
Truancy is a precursor to dropping out. One of the major reasons
students drop out is because they fall behind in academics.
Truants make up about 17% of all institutionalized
youth.
Academic failure and poor attendance in late elementary
school are common among juveniles incarcerated for serious and
violent offenses.
82% of all prison inmates
are dropouts.
The possible costs to the individual are: lost income potential
(the median income for a dropout is half that of a high school
graduate), unemployment, crime, incarceration, homelessness, addiction,
and poor relationships.
The costs to the community are higher taxes, higher crime rates,
an uneducated workforce, and a stagnate economy due to reduced
spending power.
South Carolina is one of only two states in the
US to incarcerate truant youth.
Almost 3,000 SC students are reported truant each
year.
Truancy is the second most common offense prosecuted
in Family Court.
|
