My workplace gives $50 gift cards for perfect attendance, why shouldn’t schools?
I like the way your folks think!
Ha! My high school had an attendance policy that allowed you to skip finals if you had perfect or “faithful” attendance. Three or less absences, and you did not have to take your final exam at the end of the semester. The teacher would just average your six-weeks grades and give you that as your final exam. You could, if you wanted to, take your final and try to improve your grade, but it couldn’t hurt you.
(Note: This counted almost every absence. The only things that were not counted in your 3 were funerals of immediate family members and school activities like your sports team had to leave early to make it to a game far away or the show choir was going to sing at the elementary school.)
One year I remember they said that the days of finals still counted towards your 3 or less requirement. So they had movies and other activities set up around the school for the kids that didn’t have to take their finals but had to be there. But I think that only happened once.
A couple of years ago things changed. Now I hadn’t been teaching for a few years, so I don’t know which story is true, but I’d heard someone got in a car accident and dad sued because it was a school day and she was being allowed to skip by the school. I’d also heard it had to do with funding and the law and how it was somehow illegal for schools to allow/encourage kids to skip.
So the current deal at the school I teach at is this wonderful convoluted one: Everyone has to take the final, regardless of attendance. If you missed 3 or less days, and you PASS the final, then it can’t hurt your grade. So if you fail, even with perfect attendance, you have to take the failing grade on the final. If you pass, even with a D, you get your average grade, not the low final grade. If you do better on your final than your average grade, you get that better grade. I often wondered how many teachers actually cared enough to figure all that out.
Then we had the swine flu epidemic and for one year they threw it out the window so that sick kids wouldn’t come to school!
Yip. The award encourages people to put themselves above everyone else. What a great lesson to be teaching people.
It’s not a good thing to recognize, as it encourages those who can’t to do it. And then those people grow up to be the people who go to work when they are contagious, and wind up reducing rather than increasing productivity.
And, as I’ve said before, I’m more impressed with people who are sick and make up the work and wind up with a certain grade than the person who couldn’t do it unless they showed up every day.
Perfection. Obedience. Submission to the system. Gods in earthly form.
I cared in high school. If I would have known they would be giving out plaques at the end of the year, I would have went in that one day I did miss. I still remember it, second semester senior year, I threw up 3 times before school. No idea why, I felt totally fine the rest of the day; I was just a little paranoid about accidentally throwing up on someone, so I stayed home. I was pissed at the award ceremony when I got a little paper certificate that said “Almost Perfect Attendance.” Three people in my class of 500 got the plaque. The certificate was for those who missed up to 3 days. There were like 7 or so of us. Okay, I’m still a little sad. Attendance was one of the few things I was good at, dammit!
It wasn’t that I didn’t ever get sick, I would just get sick on the weekend. :smack: But I did like school then, so oh well.
I agree, but it’s also because I think that just showing up isn’t really enough. I mean, that just seems like the bare minimum. (Plus, if someone just happens to get unlucky or has a tendency to get sick, that’s not really their fault.) I’d be more impressed with someone, regardless of their days off, who went above and beyond and did a killer research paper, or understood some high level concept in math…or something. Showing up every day–I don’t really see what makes it special.
Yeah its terrible. There are so many undeserving people who got into a college or got a job they weren’t qualified for based simply on a perfect attendance award. I think the student with the worst attendance should get an award. Or better yet, give everybody a participation award. And we could give them the answers to the tests so everyone could get a perfect score and boost their self esteem. Parents who take the time to keep their kids healthy and get them to school everyday are the reason our schools are so fucked up.
I only got a perfect attendance record once, in Year 9.
The end of year awards were three days before the end of term; I was off those three days at a sailing regatta.
One could argue that perfect attendance isn’t expected, hence the reward for going above and beyond.
Here’s where I sneeze on Queen Tonya… GAH-FLUUGH!!! Sorry about that, I’ve been sick for a while, some sort of lung thing that won’t go away. I keep coughing up these huge blobs of green phlegm, thank God I still qualify for that $50 gift card.
Keeping my son home when he’s sick is a good thing.
My school didn’t. Mom said her school did and apparently she had perfect attendance in high school. At least until her rabbit died. She later had to miss school for her wedding and was expelled soon after.
Schools in Michigan tend to have really strict attendance policies, in my experience. How my high school worked was, you miss an 11th day in any semester, you will be attending 13th grade.
In college, many classes would have an automatic fail if you missed more than like 4 classes or missed the day of the final. One would fail you for the whole class if 1 particular assignment was even a second late, and you weren’t allowed to turn it in before the due date either.
I strongly disagree with such policies. You never know when you’ll get very sick or get injured or have a car break down or something else in which you can’t go to class.
There’s actually a car dealership up here that rewards a brand new car to a high school student every year. They get one entry into the contest for every A, B, or perfect attendance quarter…so I guess there’s something to be said for it…
Eww!
I completely agree with you, I’m all about the staying home when I’m sick. My kid stays home when he’s not feeling well, too.
I’m just saying if some workplaces reward perfect attendance, it’s unsurprising some schools do, too.
But it turns out to be just a waste of paper when the kids just tear them and give half back to the principal.
Joe
My son is a freshman this year and has never missed school. Ever. Since kindergarten. He wants to finish his high school career without ever missing a day.
This was not something I set out to do when he was young. He is just blessed with a strong immune system and never gets sick. As years went by, the schools started recognizing him for his attendance and he would receive the little ribbon that he would promptly throw in the trash after the ceremony. Now that he only has three and a half years to go, it means a little more. He doesn’t expect to get anything for it, but it’s an easily attainable goal, so whatever.
Because chicks dig guys with awards.
My high school had an interesting challenge with my sister; it wasn’t so much a perfect attendance issue, but the rule was if you missed more than x% of class days, they couldn’t pass you. My sister has a chronic illness which, one year, led her to miss more than that percentage, except that she was able to not only make up the missed work, she had the top marks in her class across all subjects.
They decided to pass her, and I think modified the rule to include the rather obvious case-by-case analysis based on grades and the reason for absence!
We were given a pizza party for perfect attendance. I missed it.