To be a marginal student is to experience a strained, difficult relationship with the school environment. It is crucial to understand marginality and to analyze its extent in today's schools. The more intractable problems of school learning are most effectively addressed at an early stage when the relationship between individual and school environment first becomes problematic. The reality of marginality is that nationwide one in four students drops out of school before graduation and nearly one in two students does not graduate in certain locations and among certain ethnic groups. The achievement of minority students still lags significantly behind that of white students, despite a decade of gains. Up to 40 percent of all junior high students and 60 percent of senior high students probably have trouble with academic reading materials. As many as two-thirds of the 17-year-olds still in school run the risk of becoming marginal due to inadequate writing skills. About one-third of all pupils achieve below grade level. One in 10 secondary students gets suspended from school. Nearly all high school students experiment with alcohol, more than one-half experiment with marijuana, and about 40 percent try other drugs. Understanding the perspective from the margins is important because it defines the problems of dropouts, low achievement, misbehavior, school avoidance, and drug use in a way that makes clear what changes in school might reduce these problems. (Author/ABL)