We live in a capitalist dystopia
- Thread starter NovaSaber
- Start date
Ok. I know there are pros and cons and exceptions and - and - and -
I teach band. There were students in some of my classes last year that I almost never saw. One kid came a couple days in a row, and I said something about it - something along the lines of "hey, if you're going to get consistent about attendance, we can look at checking out a school instrument to you." Didn't see him again for weeks if not months. The year before it was normal for a third of the class to be gone on a regular basis.
Like I said, I know some people need to be gone more. But that kid's just one example of the blatant bull crap that I've seen around school attendance over the last couple years. Then these kids can't keep jobs - even entry-level jobs like McNasty's - because they flat out don't understand that when you get a job, you have to show up to work.
This law could use some work. But when it comes to having an attendance policy with teeth - it's about damn time.
I teach band. There were students in some of my classes last year that I almost never saw. One kid came a couple days in a row, and I said something about it - something along the lines of "hey, if you're going to get consistent about attendance, we can look at checking out a school instrument to you." Didn't see him again for weeks if not months. The year before it was normal for a third of the class to be gone on a regular basis.
Like I said, I know some people need to be gone more. But that kid's just one example of the blatant bull crap that I've seen around school attendance over the last couple years. Then these kids can't keep jobs - even entry-level jobs like McNasty's - because they flat out don't understand that when you get a job, you have to show up to work.
This law could use some work. But when it comes to having an attendance policy with teeth - it's about damn time.
I've been on both ends. On a couple occasions I got screwed by an assigned group project partner who almost never showed up to class. But I had a year when I was the sick kid. I think I missed 28 days. I don't know what happened to me. It was definitely chronic, but I don't think it would have counted as a chronic illness under this rule because no doctor could figure out what it was. I almost worked myself to death trying to make up all the work, until my teachers pulled me aside and said "Stop. Some of these assignments aren't worth it. Let's drop this and that." If they didn't have the power to do that and instead I had frigging juvenile court hanging over my head, I don't think I'd be here right now.
Like I said, the law could use some work. They jump to legal consequences way too fast. Other options listed in the article can be effective - this year, a kid at my school was told that if he didn't get his butt to school consistently, they wouldn't sign off on his learner's permit for driver's ed. It worked.
The article does say the school has a few exceptions for chronic illness and emergencies, and I missed that when I read through it last night. I totally get the extenuating circumstances. Coffeehorse - I'm sorry you got so sick, and I'm glad your teachers took you aside and started streamlining things.
I hate missing school, personally, because it takes so much work to plan for being gone, and then there's a crap-ton of work to catch up on when I get back. I typically miss as little as possible, but I've had years where I was gone a lot. (One year my wife had multiple surgeries and there was some other family stuff going on - I missed more before Christmas than I had in multiple years before that.)
High absenteeism affects so many things, but my frustration isn't with people who are legitimately sick. It's with family after family that takes advantage of weak attendance policies.
The article does say the school has a few exceptions for chronic illness and emergencies, and I missed that when I read through it last night. I totally get the extenuating circumstances. Coffeehorse - I'm sorry you got so sick, and I'm glad your teachers took you aside and started streamlining things.
I hate missing school, personally, because it takes so much work to plan for being gone, and then there's a crap-ton of work to catch up on when I get back. I typically miss as little as possible, but I've had years where I was gone a lot. (One year my wife had multiple surgeries and there was some other family stuff going on - I missed more before Christmas than I had in multiple years before that.)
High absenteeism affects so many things, but my frustration isn't with people who are legitimately sick. It's with family after family that takes advantage of weak attendance policies.