Parental Education Key to Health for Parents and Children

Although the goal of reducing school dropout rates is laudable and would surely produce many of the benefits suggested by Freudenberg and Ruglis (1), the simple truth is that this approach will not produce the most benefit for the effort and funding required. There are two reasons for this. First, the history of public education policy is littered with failed attempts to tackle the problem of high-school dropouts in a variety of communities. Second, there is a surer route to improving health by increasing literacy: educate parents. This strategy will also increase the likelihood of children staying in school.