Schools may have high crime rates because they are located in areas with high crime rates, because compulsory education laws require unmotivated students to stay in school, because of the increasing diversity of classroom populations, and because ideological changes have stripped teachers and principals of the absolute authority they once had. A Federal initiative may be the most appropriate way of dealing with the problem, because the Federal Government has more funds and because some Federal and State laws tend to promote school crime by undermining the authority of teachers and principals. Providing Federal funds for security guards would help deal with intruders in schools in central cities. Another desirable change would be to reduce the age of compulsory attendance to 15. Even though only small numbers of students would leave if the age were changed, their absence would make possible a significantly better educational climate. Making education more voluntary will help to emphasize the true purpose of school attendance. In addition, little community impact would occur since delinquency currently precedes dropping out and dropouts are not seriously disadvantaged in the labor market compared with high school graduates not going on to college. To deal with the problem of youth unemployment, the minimum wage for teenagers should be reduced. While this proposed approach will not eliminate the problems of intruders, crime and truancy among younger students, and lack of family cooperation, it will help to improve all schools.