DR. WALLACE: I'm a 16-year-old girl who has a serious question regarding our school system in the United States. Lately, I have been reading about low test scores and how lousy our education system is compared to other nations, especially Japan.

I always thought that the United States was a leader when it came to education and I was shocked when I read that we are far behind educationally compared to most industrial countries. Why are we so educationally deficient? Why do so many of our kids quit school? — Nameless, Schererville, Ind.

NAMELESS: Comparing the Japanese educational system to the educational system in the United States is like comparing apples to oranges. The Japanese system is structured to educate a student population that is 99.9 percent native-born Japanese who were reared in traditional Japanese families that place a high premium on the value of education. From an early age, Japanese students are expected to study hard and excel in school.

We, too, place a high premium on educational values, but we must spend much more time and money educating our children because of our diversified cultural heritage and the fact that many of these students speak no English. California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas schools must educate the many Spanish-speaking students living in the United States. The same is true for the Cuban-American students in South Florida, the Vietnamese-American students in California, Oregon, Washington, and for all students from foreign countries around the globe who are welcomed by this great nation.

As a former high school principal I can tell you that American students have a higher drop-out rate than in some countries simply because their parents do not place a high priority on education.

I SUPPORT ALLOWANCES

DR. WALLACE: My husband and I are parents to a 12-year-old son. He is a good boy and a good student. I'm a teacher and my husband is a lawyer.

Our son has been asking us for an allowance. It seems that all of his friends receive an allowance, and this hinders him because my husband does not believe in giving money to a child for doing nothing. He feels that if our son wants spending money he should get it the old-fashioned way — by earning it by working.

I do not totally agree with my husband's philosophy. I'm not against having our son earn money, but being only 12 years old limits the jobs he can handle. Please give me your philosophy regarding allowances. Did you receive an allowance when you were a teen? — Mother, Santa Fe, N.M.

MOTHER: I do support allowances. The prime purpose of giving a child an allowance is to provide the young person the responsibility of learning how to manage money. With guidance from parents, the young person will learn how to save for a more expensive item - budget, and open a savings account that will pay interest.

The allowance should commence at age 11 or 12 and continue through high school and should be given even when the child earns money with part-time employment. Allowances would be eliminated only when family funds are low.

My own father had the same philosophy as your husband, thus an allowance was only a dream at our house, not a reality.

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. E-mail him at rwallace@thegreatestgift.com. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.