An opinion piece in today's New York Times ("The Blackboard Jungle: Tamer Than You Think" by John Beam) addressed the issue of safety in New York's public schools. Politicians who focus on crime in public schools often ignore deeper problems within the system. For example, schools with higher attendance rates tend to have lower rates of suspensions, crime, and police incidents. Schools with fully functioning libraries and modern computers tend to have higher attendance rates. Schools with inexperienced teachers or teachers who are frequently absent tend to have more suspensions. The point? With the right resources (libraries, computers, dependable and experienced teachers), schools have less crime. As the author says, "If politicians devoted more effort to making schools places where students want to be than to kicking them out, we would have both more peaceful and successful schools."