Learning is a victim of neglect

Re “Cutting dropout rates also fights crime, study says,” Dec. 26

The article is a reminder of public servants’ lethargy. Public agencies using public funds to procure public reports aren’t willing to press for funds to protect the public?

The whopping dropout rate in L.A. schools is symptomatic of myriad things, including the way we neglect the different learning aptitudes of a diverse student population, the lack of career planning and other support services, and our insistence that the only alternative for non-college bound students is the military.

It’s time we stopped making public education a one-size-fits-all right of passage into adulthood. Today’s young people need a lot more to succeed than did previous generations, and immigrants more so than natives. They therefore deserve a much better network of support, and in a timely manner.

If the country can send thousands of troops overnight into a preemptive war, the state can budget to prevent crime. Preempting domestic terrorism in the streets of L.A. makes too much sense for politics.

Thu-Trang Tran

Fountain Valley