Has School Become Optional?

Plus: the many benefits of low unemployment; what Frantz Fanon and Ian Fleming had in common; and judging the world’s best coffee. View in browser | Update your preferences Tuesday, January 9, 2024 In today’s newsletter, solving the absenteeism crisis, and then: • The many benefits of low unemployment • What Frantz Fanon and Ian Fleming had in common • Judging the world’s best coffee Has School Become Optional? In the past few years, chronic absenteeism has nearly doubled. The fight to get students back in classrooms has only just begun. Illustration by Owen Gent The number of chronically absent students, those missing more than ten per cent of school days in a year, spiked in the years surrounding the height of the pandemic. And more recent data is showing only marginal improvement; in some cities, the absenteeism rate is above forty per cent. In a startling new piece from this week’s issue, Alec MacGillis reports on the students who are struggling to make it to school, the parents who are skeptical about the value of compulsory schooling outside the home, and the districts that are hiring contractors to help boost attendance. “Absenteeism underlies much of what has beset young people in recent years, including falling school achievement, deteriorating mental health—exacerbated by social isolation—and elevated youth violence and car thefts, some occurring during school hours,” MacGillis writes. “But schools are using relatively little of the billions of dollars that they received in federal pandemic-recovery funds to address absenteeism.” As the head of one private company that aids in the fight against truancy puts it, many school systems “pay the least amount of money for the most important job.” He continues, “I’m not saying that teaching is not a very important job. But they got to be in school to be taught.” Read the story Support The New Yorker’s award-winning journalism. Subscribe today » More on Education in the Pandemic Age Annals of Education The Right-Wing Mothers Fuelling the School-Board Wars Moms for Liberty claims that teachers are indoctrinating students with dangerous ideologies. But is the group’s aim protecting kids—or scaring parents? By Paige Williams Annals of Education What Happens When an Élite Public School Becomes Open to All? After the legendarily competitive Lowell High School dropped selective admissions, new challenges—and new opportunities—arose. By Nathan Heller Annals of Education The Rise of Black Homeschooling Often underserved by traditional schools, Black families are banding together to educate their children, sometimes with an unexpected funding source: the Koch family and other conservative donors. By Casey Parks Annals of Education The Students Left Behind by Remote Learning The desire to protect children may put their long-term well-being at stake. By Alec MacGillis John Cassidy The U.S. Is Reaping the Benefits of Low Unemployment Source photograph by Spencer Platt / Getty In an election year, the state of the economy is always viewed through a political lens. But, as John Cassidy writes in his latest column, “the benefits of strong job creation and low unemployment go far beyond political bragging rights. Simply put, they greatly improve the welfare of countless Americans, including some of the neediest ones. In many ways, indeed, keeping the jobless rate low and the labor markets tight is the most effective and cost-efficient welfare policy there is.” Read more » Editor’s Pick A Critic at Large What Frantz Fanon and Ian Fleming Agreed On From opposite directions, the revolutionary intellectual and the creator of James Bond saw violence as essential—psychologically and strategically—to solving the crisis of colonialism. By Daniel Immerwahr Culture Dept. Persons of Interest ​​The Arts Center at Ground Zero Is Finally Here. Can Bill Rauch Make It Work? Rauch has been called the “nicest man in show business.” Now he’s trying to bring the spirit of community theatre to a building that cost half a billion dollars. By Daniel Pollack-Pelzner Coffee Nation The World Cup of Coffee! The Italian coffee magnate Andrea Illy convenes a (temporarily) tired group of coffee appreciators to judge twenty-seven cups from nine countries. By D. T. Max Fun & Games Dept. Crossword A Moderately Challenging Puzzle “Screw your courage to the sticking place / And we’ll not fail” speaker: eleven letters. By Natan Last Daily Shouts What You Hear Without Headphones If you really pay attention, there’s music everywhere. By Sarah Akinterinwa Daily Cartoon Tuesday, January 9th By David Ostow and Ellis Rosen Name Drop: Can you guess the identity of a notable person—contemporary or historical—in six clues? Play a quiz from our archive » P.S. The personal life of Simone de Beauvoir, who was born on this day in 1908, is most often told as a love story between her and Jean-Paul Sartre. But, as Merve Emre writes, “the most extreme feelings of agitation and rapture are reserved not for Sartre but for Elisabeth Lacoin, a brilliant and mercurial classmate whom Beauvoir called Zaza.” Today’s newsletter was written by Ian Crouch. Thanks for reading. Let us know your thoughts about today’s edition. Plus, browse more newsletters and invite a friend to sign up. 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