Mandatory schooling: a teacher's eye view.

I teach ninth- and 10th-grade English at a large high school in a New Jersey township about 45 minutes outside of Philadelphia. In most ways, I'm in a pretty enviable position: The school district is growing rapidly; it's more or less flush with cash; the area is solidly middle- to upper-middle-class and, while ethnically diverse, generally free of racial tensions.

Even given those circumstances, though, my school does have problems - the problems that are left over in any classroom once you strip away more-obvious distractions like violent crime or lack of teaching resources. My school, like all public schools, has a small percentage - in my experience, as small as 1 or 2 percent - of uninterested, apathetic, troublesome students who disrupt the learning process for the rest of the student body. The bad eggs are there, every year and in every class, making life miserable for teachers and students alike.

Over a 10-year teaching career, I've wondered about why they are there and what you can do about them. I've come to the conclusion that the problem ultimately stems from compulsory schooling laws. Or, to put it a little differently, many of the problems in public-school classrooms - especially at the high school level - would disappear if attendance were voluntary.

I realize that this sounds so nuts that I'm reluctant to use my own name. (I also don't have any interest in getting my fellow teachers - or my union - mad at me.) Although my colleagues constantly complain about trouble-making students, most of them would never seriously consider questioning, let alone gutting, compulsory school laws. In New Jersey, students can sign themselves out of high school at age 18; with their parents' permission, they can leave two years before that. I don't know that I'm 100 percent against mandatory schooling - especially through at least eighth grade - but I think it's worth pursuing alternatives. The system would work better if teenagers with no interest in school were allowed - or even encouraged - to bug out earlier still.

Last year, I had an experience that brought home the difference between compulsory and voluntary attendance. During the school year, I had a marginal student I'll call Kevin. On those occasions when he handed in assignments, they were almost always below passing. In fact, most of the time he did absolutely nothing in class, often forgetting his books, notebooks, pens, etc. But at least he was quietly nonproductive. There was a...