Truancy rates are directly correlated to low graduation rates.

In the simple but profound declaration, “Truancy rates are directly correlated to low graduation rates,” Tony Cárdenas speaks to a truth as old as human learning itself — that discipline and presence are the twin pillars upon which all growth stands. Behind this measured statement lies a deep moral and social reality: when a young person turns away from the path of education, even for a time, they begin to drift from the structure that gives life direction, hope, and dignity. Cárdenas, as both a legislator and a man who rose from humble beginnings in Los Angeles, knew that this was not merely a statistic — it was a reflection of broken dreams, neglected potential, and the silent cry of youth left unguided.

The origin of this quote is rooted in Cárdenas’s lifelong advocacy for education reform and youth empowerment. Having grown up in a working-class family, he witnessed firsthand how poverty and disconnection from school life could become the first domino in a chain that led to despair. His statement is not a bureaucratic observation, but a warning born of compassion — that absence breeds absence, and when a child is missing from the classroom, something far greater than attendance is being lost. A day skipped from school often becomes a week, a pattern, a mindset, and finally, a life untethered from purpose.

The ancients understood this in their own way. The philosopher Aristotle once said, “We are what we repeatedly do.” To attend, to show up, to engage — these are acts of moral strength as much as intellectual ones. Truancy, then, is not simply the failure to attend class; it is the withdrawal from responsibility, the quiet erosion of self-belief. Education is not just the absorption of knowledge, but the cultivation of constancy. When a young mind begins to wander from the discipline of learning, it loses the rhythm that prepares it for life’s greater trials.

Consider the true story of Jaime Escalante, the legendary Bolivian-American teacher immortalized in the film Stand and Deliver. In the 1980s, at a struggling East Los Angeles high school, he faced students who were labeled as hopeless — truants, dropouts, troublemakers. Yet through his relentless faith and discipline, Escalante reignited their belief in learning. He taught them calculus not as a subject, but as a symbol of possibility. Many of his students, who once skipped class, went on to graduate with honors. His story reveals what Cárdenas’s words imply: attendance is not just physical presence; it is the presence of spirit — the decision to stay engaged with one’s own future.

The statement also carries a social echo, one that extends beyond individual will. When truancy rises, it signals a fracture not only in the student’s resolve, but in the community’s support. Poverty, family instability, unsafe neighborhoods, and underfunded schools all conspire to pull children away from learning. Thus, truancy is not merely a personal failing but a communal one. To heal it requires not just rules and penalties, but compassion, mentorship, and opportunity. Every empty seat in a classroom is a silent testimony to a system that must do more to bring its children back into the light.

Cárdenas’s insight reminds us that education is the great equalizer, but only for those who remain within its gates long enough to be transformed by it. The road to graduation is not measured only in years, but in resilience — the daily decision to keep showing up despite fatigue, distraction, or doubt. To fall away from that path is to risk losing the rhythm that shapes not only the mind but the soul. Attendance, in this sense, becomes a sacred discipline — a quiet vow to remain faithful to one’s own unfolding.

The lesson, then, is both practical and spiritual: success is not achieved by bursts of brilliance, but by steadfast presence. Whether in learning, work, or love, the act of showing up — again and again — builds the foundation upon which greatness stands. Constancy is the mother of mastery. The world does not reward the gifted alone; it rewards the consistent, the ones who stay when others drift away.

And so, the practical action for all who hear these words is this: nurture the habit of showing up. Encourage it in your children, your students, your communities. When you feel tempted to withdraw, remind yourself that attendance — of body, of mind, of heart — is the seed of transformation. For as Tony Cárdenas taught, when we abandon the path of learning, we abandon a piece of our future. But when we stay — when we persevere — we give ourselves the chance to rise, to graduate not only from school, but into the full potential of our humanity.