Have-not Learners^sm

Although we realize that the more generally accepted term for this class of students is at-risk, we have chosen instead to use the term have-not learners to clarify the cause and severity of their situation and to also broaden the scope to include former dropout students who wish to use the re-education process to gain more meaningful employment. Traditionally, when the term at-risk has been applied to education, it has referred to the at-risk of school failure for students due to low social economic status (SES).

Another pitfall is the use of the term "at risk" without specifying in what respect the student is at risk. The danger is that school personnel and others will focus primarily or solely on the personal variables and characteristics, viewing the at-risk student as deficient because he/she does not "fit" the system rather than viewing the situation from a broader, more systemic perspective (i.e., the system as deficient because it does not meet the educational needs of all of its students).¹

Although we wish not to become entangled in attempts to lay blame on potential responsible parties for the blight of these learners, we do feel, however, the term have-not learners more clearly dramatizes the truth of what the these learners face not only in their school settings, as so dramatically pointed out by Jonathan Kozol in his The Shame of the Nation, The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America, but also in their homes.

One criticism which can be made is that, although dropping out of school is generally considered a  discrete event that can be measured, future success in adult life or limited functioning as productive  adults are difficult concepts to define in ways that facilitate assessment of "at-risk" status. ¹

¹Source: http://www.sedl.org/rural/atrisk/concept.html