Schools all around the world have a truancy problem.

Students don’t have the motivation to graduate. They start creating this idea in their head that by the age of 17 they’ll drop out and their problems will be solved; that’s not the case, but students believe that’s how it works.

There’s programs that help students pick up their absences that schools have created. For example, Palatine High School has an Absence Group with about 4-5 teachers who meet with the assigned student and touch base on how they’re progressing or failing on doing.

The program was started in the Spring of 2014 by Thomas Mocon and Erin Luzadder. Later on, Leslie Alavez was added and so on.

The program has done an amazing job with keeping teenagers in school.

While there’s still a percentage that does not want to put any effort into their absences, there could be another way to handle those who do not want put any effort.

There are schools who offer money, chips, and contracts to offer off campus as an award to good behavior.

While ditchers cause problems for hall monitors, it becomes problematic especially when “everyone starts yelling because no one’s in class then you have everyone chasing and it becomes a nightmare,” Palatine High School hall monitor Tom said.

Teenagers who ditch find it stupid to be in class or they feel the teachers don’t care enough for them and that seems to be a huge problem. About 50% of the 15 students I interviewed seemed to agreed.

A particular student I interviewed strongly seemed to hate the way schools handled truancies.

“If we do bad after a while, we’re put into the Absence group,” she said. “Then if you are still doing bad you start getting a warning for a ticket, but if you do well after awhile you get chips or a gift card.”

Palatine High School rewards you with pizza once a month as well, it’s pretty twisted. We get rewarded for the things we are responsible to do, but that’s only if you are considered “one of the bad kids.”

Personally, there shouldn’t be a need to give students a gift card, treats, or pizza for doing what we need to do.

Schools want to treat every student as if they’re an adult but if we continue to reward what’s expected, what’s necessarily the entire point? Every reward giving just keeps students from growing up.

Frankly, punishments became some type of entertainment to teenagers because they simply don’t care enough. It just becomes a daily routine in their schedule.

Although, there are ways to continue to motivate students with rewards.

I strongly believe that having somebody that they can touch base with once or twice a week could be more of an impact then having a reward handed at the end of the week.