Doogie Washout graduated from Middle School in 1993. He was a model student, never a discipline problem. He had near perfect attendance, and yet when he walked across the stage to accept his diploma from the superintendent of schools, it was a sad day, because Doogie couldn't even read it. The taxpayers had anted up more than $500,000 for his schooling. And according to the U.S. Labor Department, this young man represents nearly 50 percent of middle school graduates from our schools today.

But his story doesn't end there. After graduation he found a summer job at the local Starbucks. He lasted just a few days, because he couldn't read the menu items on the wall, let alone write down the orders. He tried desperately to find other employment, but because of his lack of reading and writing skills, he couldn't find a job.

According to his parents, Doogie had been diagnosed by the school as having Attention Deficit Disorder. They expressed great frustration and anger when faced with the task of personally tutoring their son. "After a few hours of working with my retard son I just couldn't take it anymore!" his father said, "What is so hard about reading SEE SPOT RUN?"

Two days before entering high school, Doogie took his own life, becoming another teenage suicide statistic. "What was I suppose to do?", his father asked, "Punish him with TIME-OUTS? Me and the ole-lady still can't figure out what went wrong".

Before he took his own life Doogie wrote a letter to his parents:

"Der maom an daad, i kat tak it no morr wen u kaall me a reeturd it mak me cri - you guys SUCK"

"Now would you look at that", his mother said, "he spelled you guys SUCK correctly"   . . . . . . .  I wonder what else he was trying to tell us".