NO DROPOUTS

Your three-part series dealing with black-on-black crime was extremely
disturbing to read but will, hopefully, result in the development of
effective strategies to deal with this most serious social problem.
Unfortunately, when it came to recommending solutions, two specific
crime-reducing strategies were not even mentioned in your otherwise
excellent report.

First and foremost, dropping out of school prior to the completion of an
educational program must be made illegal. No student should be able to leave
school until he or she has demonstrated the potential for adult
self-sufficiency.

Disruptive students should be assigned to a "junior cadet corps" associated
with one of the armed services and compelled to stay in the military until
completing a prescribed course of study.

Second, the so-called "war on drugs" must be declared the failure that it
most certainly is, and drug treatment mandated for anyone whose drug use
becomes a problem for either themselves or for others in the community. In
other words, all illegal drug use should be treated in much the same manner
as alcohol abuse.

Strictly enforced compulsory education for every student, in combination
with the end of the socially injurious drug war, will dramatically reduce
the crime rate for the entire nation, in general, and for the
African-American community, in particular. But, unfortunately, politicians
won't support either of these suggestions unless pressured to do so by the
voters.

WILLIAM DUSENBERRY

Mount Pleasant