[QUOTE=Epimetheus]
I missed more than 6 days of class and I passed high school. Of course I am in a different state, and I graduated in 1995, so things may have changed. 
[/QUOTE]
Well, I generally missed about three weeks total per year, and I graduated from a Virginia high school with a Governor’s Seal diploma (GPA higher than 3.5; mine was 3.8) in 2002. Missing high school classes does fuck-all if the student is sufficiently smart and/or otherwise hardworking.
That is, of course, until the Powers That Be at the D of E deem it prudent to measure academic achievement in terms of ability to place one’s ass in a chair on a regular basis as opposed to, oh, whether or not the student has mastered the required material. I won’t be surprised if that decision comes sooner rather than later, given that during my last two years of high school, it was established that grade advancement would be partially determined by the Standards of Learning exams: statewide grade-specific standardized testing for each “core” subject which had – and, as I understand it, still have – little to nothing to do with the (also state-prescribed) curricula for those same courses, resulting in the third quarter of each year being spent abandoning any current lessons and focusing on rote memorization of answers to banal, but as yet undiscussed, questions.
Soon, though, that won’t be good enough anymore…after all, the S.O.L.s are still evaluating students based on knowledge of some kind, even if that knowledge is only tangentially relevant to the subjects at hand. Students can still pass through the public education system by becoming educated on the things the educators are educating them upon. Unacceptable! No, clearly, we must find another criterion on which to impede students’ academic development despite the insistence of some of them on continuing to learn regardless. Attendence, it seems, is just the ticket; pay no mind to such quibbles as student willingness or ability to master the concepts taught during absences, as it ought to be clear to us all by now that learning is hardly the point of the learning experience. If this doesn’t work out, we’ll just whip up requirements for posture and personal grooming habits. No child left behind, indeed.
As a footnote, I’d like to point out that none of the above snark is directed at the OP; he (I’m assuming AWB is male, please correct me if I’m wrong) is simply doing his job and trying to conduct his class without incident. I just get riled at any rule imposed by a purported “institution of learning” by which any criteria beyond knowledge and comprehension are used to measure success. I have the same problem with, for example, notebook checks; this rant just seemed more appropriate to the thread.
