Attendance is too highly valued
Graphic of a confused teacher and an empty classroom. (Photo: Raffi Bravo, The Puma Prensa)
Annika Umholtz, staff writer, Emerson Parker, news editor
Remember pretending to be sick so you could skip school for a day? In high school, more often than not, students do the opposite. Long gone is the idyllic fantasy of Ferris Buhler’s Day Off. Now, students take Advil before trudging to school and keep a water bottle filled with tea at their side while they power through the day.
Coming to school sick is an idea established in elementary school, when public schools reward students that have perfect attendance with prizes and school wide recognition. The Legislative Analyst’s Office in California states that “the department uses attendance data to allocate state funding for various programs.” This policy means that schools are further incentivized to encourage students to come to school sick because they are given money based on attendance.
"I’ve had to come to school sick in order to participate in a sport because a student athlete can't miss school the day of competition– the most recent one that comes to mind is when I was sick the day of my volleyball senior night, but I had to go to school in order to play,” said senior Rachel Reynolds. This behavior is especially dangerous with the risk of COVID-19, but showing any caution for the pandemic by staying home leaves a student with nothing but work. Attendance Works, one of the largest attendance advocacy organizations, had a handout called “How sick is too sick?” on their website encouraging students to come to school as long as they didn’t have a fever for 24 hours. However, they removed it during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We advise suspending use of our When Is Sick Too Sick for School? handout while the United States is grappling with Covid-19.”
It’s a common occurrence to see coughing or sniffling students, some even with fevers, desperately trying to be present in class. They feel that they must come to school when their alternative is equivalent to an official school punishment, a suspension. Teachers often plead with students to stop spreading the flu around campus, but what can students do when staying home means not only being sick, but also a heavier workload and a worse understanding of material? This stigma among students is especially dangerous when considering circumstances involving COVID-19. The virus has yet to be eradicated and students are more likely to risk spreading it than deal with what feels like a punishment.
Make-up work is one of the biggest motivators for students to come to school sick. In every class, especially fast paced ones, missing a single period can result in hours of catch-up work alongside their usual classes. At Maria Carrillo High School, the make-up work policy is strict, especially the MCHS PE department. They state on their website that a student must complete “1 page for every 1 day you are out of regular class activity. If you miss 10 days, then you should complete 10 pages of research reporting. The total length will not include bibliographies.” For a long term absence, PE students are required to research a life threatening disease and write a paper. Cate Bisbee, sophomore, frequently missed her sixth period PE class for track and cross country meets. “I didn’t have time to write the essays because of my meets… We’re missing PE to run, which is a lot more physical education than PE itself,” Bisbee said. Allie Donohue, sophomore, missed about 15 days of PE because of a broken foot. Donohue said that she “had to write a bazillion papers that didn’t teach me anything” in order to make-up for the days that she missed. “I wish they had something that was more useful,” Donohue added. Completing make-up work on top of trying to recover from sickness stresses students.
Some teachers argue that the workloads are manageable since Google Classroom allows students to keep working even while away from school. But when a student is sick at home, the whole point of missing class time is to recuperate. Students can’t be expected to do homework when they have a fever, and they shouldn’t feel obligated to either. Students may also be absent due to family obligations or special events. If they decided that something happening in their lives is more important than school, then they certainly aren’t going to have time to do school work during their absence. As mentioned by Briana Jauregui last month in her article “Student absences cause feelings of stress in schools,” we need to change our late work policies to account for the build-up of make-up work.
School culture puts emphasis on attendance because of its association with academic performance. However, more often than not, attendance is overemphasized, leading to students prioritizing school over important opportunities. “I wanted to go visit UC Davis on Thursday. I was going to go on a weekday so I could see what the day-to-day was like. But my mom was worried about me being absent,” said senior Cody Peters. UC Davis is one of his major college choices, and as a senior he’s in a rush to make a final decision, so it’s vital that he’s able to experience the school’s atmosphere. However, the common stigma surrounding attendance may obstruct this chance for Peters.
“I refused to go on trips unless I didn't have to miss school. One year my parents went on vacation without us because my siblings and I had school,” said senior Grace Zucco. Students feel too tied down to be absent from school no matter the occasion and often push themselves to keep working—sometimes ignoring once in a lifetime opportunities.
American society places a high value on attendance, which is reflected in the policies on attendance in our schools. However, these policies have broader ramifications, including leading students to put school above their own health and life experiences. Addressing the way we deal with absences, from make-up work to attendance prizes, is necessary to change how our society values work above all else. Yes, school is important, but school should never be someone’s whole life.