Don’t Fence Me In: Essays on the Rational Truant - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0955464269 ISBN 13: 9780955464263

Publisher: University of Buckingham Press, 2014

Synopsis

This book assumes that most truancy is the logical outcome of rational decisions made by students in the face of the circumstances that characterize their school experience. It declines to attribute and consign all acts of truancy to the dustbin of deviance and anti-social behavior. While it does not seek to absolve young people from responsibility for their actions, it seeks to show that structural weaknesses in the state-supported school system play a significant role in the causation of truancy both from class and school. The book consists of a series of essays written from a perspective that seeks to explain and understand truancy rationally. Some contributors report on recent research including the relation of teaching style to truancy, the incidence of truancy as a function of ethnic group and linguistic proficiency, the student as consumer, and the importance of establishing a literate order to decrease truancy rates. Other essays are more speculative and theoretical, including an assessment of political attitudes to truancy, a personal account by a recalcitrant former truant, a study of conflicting explanations of the phenomenon, an examination of the measurement of truancy and an account of 'truant' and its numerous synonyms. Contributors include Ron Bartholomew, Jonathan Shute, Jack Christianson, Bruce S. Cooper , M.P. Conolly, Sean Gabb, Colin Coldman, and Dennis O'Keeffe who is best known for his The Politics of Truancy.

About this title

About the Author

MICHAEL CONOLLY is Visiting Fellow in the Department of Economics and International Studies at the University of Buckingham. Dennis O'Keeffe is Professor of Social Science at the University of Buckingham and current editor of the Salisbury Review. He is Education and Welfare Fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs.

Review

"One of the most intriguing ideas advanced in this book is that, at least in some circumstances, truancy represents a rational choice, a better and more productive use of time than the pointless tedium of the classroom. If that is true rigid enforcement of attendance is not only oppressive but also irrational." (John Clarke)

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Buckingham Press
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0955464269
• ISBN 13: 9780955464263
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 218
• Editor: Connolly Michael