To the editor:

In the Dec. 10 Journal-World, the B.C. comic strip makes a joke of a serious problem in our country. A young ant failing all his classes believes he will be passed on and gleefully tells his mother that when he graduates he will be a teacher.

Are children who are continually unsuccessful in school a laughing matter? Students who continually are unsuccessful in school are more likely to experience excessive absenteeism and have higher drop out rates than successful students. Many who drop out have a higher rate of involvement with the juvenile justice system. Our society can ill afford even one child failing all his classes.

That Johnny Hart attributes this young ant’s failure to teachers who also must have failed all their classes yet were passed on to graduation is an insult to all teachers and a gross oversimplification of all the factors that lead to a child’s school failure.

As long as it is acceptable and thought funny to make teachers the scapegoat for a child’s failure in school, then we will never solve the many issues that contribute to a lack of success in school.

Shame on you, Mr. Hart. Shame on you.

ViAnn Abel,

Lawrence