Proclamation 3864—"Stay in School"

We can be proud that the percentage of school-aged children dropping out of school has decreased steadily in recent years. But too many children still do not complete their high school education. This year, an estimated 800,000 youth will not return to their high school classrooms in the fall.

A high school education is no guarantee of success. But it is an important first *step on the road to a fuller life. Unfortunately, those who are most economically disadvantaged are most likely to drop out of school. By doing so they cripple their capacity for escaping the cycle of poverty. The future of the nation itself is mortgaged to higher welfare, and dependency costs—and to costly remedial measures that must repair the damage of early failures to stay in school.

While those who abandon their classrooms have much in common, their reasons for leaving are very individual. Our response must be equally personal. A parent, a teacher, a friend, a volunteer, can make all the difference to a lonely or frustrated young person. Schools themselves must make every effort to encourage regular attendance by making the classroom experience as relevant and interesting to their students as possible.

To emphasize the importance of this task, I, Lyndon B. Johnson, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim a national "Stay in School" campaign.

I call upon the American people to make this campaign successful by ensuring that the schools in their communities are responsive to the needs of all their young people.

I ask young and old alike to participate personally in this campaign through their schools, their organizations, their local governments.

Whenever any one of us is in a position to help a youngster to stay in school—through individual counsel, encouragement and assistance—I most earnestly urge him to do so.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day of August, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-eight and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and ninety-third.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON