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posted by janrinok on Wednesday August 17 2016, @08:45PM   Printer-friendly
from the study-with-suds dept.

Whirlpool (the appliance manufacturer) donated washers and driers to schools and increased attendance.

According to Whirlpool's research, one in five school children report difficulty finding clean clothes to wear to school. It turns out that offering free in-school laundry services to kids with attendance problems increases their attendance.

When compared to factors like economic opportunity, unemployment, and institutional racism, laundry seems pretty inconsequential in the fight to keep kids in school. But while that might be the case for their parents, for a ten-year-old who already has the odds stacked against them, having nothing clean to wear to school could be the deciding factor in whether or not they want to face their classmates that day.

I can remember my grandmother telling me that she thought lunches in schools were a wonderful innovation, because they didn't have anything like that when she was a girl, and many children couldn't come because they wouldn't have lunch. I'm sure back then nobody thought of lunch as something school should provide. Now apparently laundry is the next big innovation.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 17 2016, @09:07PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 17 2016, @09:07PM (#389294)
    Proper care and education for our children remains a cornerstone of our entire colonization effort. Children not only shape our future; they determine in many ways our present. Men and women work harder knowing their children are safe and close at hand. And never forget that, with children present, parents will defend their home to the death. —Colonel Corazon Santiago, “Planet: A Survivalist’s Guide”
  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 17 2016, @10:22PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 17 2016, @10:22PM (#389333)

    But apparently they won't wash clothes for them.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 17 2016, @11:25PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 17 2016, @11:25PM (#389371)

      You are assuming that the factory in their town wasn't closed and those good-paying jobs they used to have were sent to China, after which, each parent works 3 part-time poverty-wage jobs to pay the rent and put food on the table.
      ...and when they do get home, it's all they can to to make supper, eat, and tuck in their kids.
      ...and they can't afford 8 changes of clothes for everyone to give them a full-week buffer.

      -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]