I only needed a note if I missed a test, and even then I couldn’t make up the test, the rest of the tests would be re-weighed as if out of 100.
The first paragraph I quoted matches several of my “real world” bosses, you get both kinds in both places. I had a boss tell me I was faking an allergic reaction which had my left arm twice the size of the right and tomato-red.
Mybe I’m misreading, but I thought the teacher meant “oh I don’t need to see a certificate, nobody will say they had jury duty when they didn’t.” So he was trusting her word, not calling her a liar.
Since we both read the same story completely different, olives, will you please clarify?
My own college did require attendance, but at the same time if you’d been sick nobody expected a note. If you said you’d been sick, they believed it (plus anyway most people would still look like shit if they came back after several days sick).
Other colleges didn’t demand attendance for most classes, but in those which did, you needed a note from the doctor with three government stamps and a bona fide from a judge…
I don’t think she was trying to be a bitch to me, personally, I just think it’s a stupid policy. I’ve never gotten a doctor’s note before, I just assumed that if they’re dated, they would back-date them to cover the days you missed, otherwise what’s the point?
I guess I should pit the assholes that ruin it for everyone- like the people trying to get a week off work for the sniffles or whatnot.
Reading glasses? How old are you?
OneCentStamp, my cousin wore reading glasses from age 5 to 12. Then her eyesight went myopic enough to correct her previous hypermetropy.
Old folks aren’t the only ones who need glasses to read.
I know this. I work in ophthalmology. I was legitimately curious. 
I’m currently teaching a history course at a local college.
This class meets only once a week, for 3 hours (a less than ideal pedagogical situation, but as an adjunct i don’t get to set the schedule), so if you miss a class then you essentially miss a whole week’s worth of work. The semester is 14 weeks long (after breaks are taken out), so i have 14 lessons.
The first thing i tell my students is that attendance is required, and that my assumption is that they will attend EVERY class, without exception. I then explain my attendance policy.
My rule is that students can miss no more than two lessons. If the class was taught twice a week (for 90 minutes) or three times a week (for an hour), i would bump up the number of allowable missed classes to three or four, but i’m not willing to let people miss three whole weeks of a 14 week course, so the number right now is 2.
I tell them that, as long as they don’t miss more than two classes, i require no reason or excuse for an absence. I’m realistic enough to know that sometimes students can’t make it to class, for medical or other unavoidable reasons. I also think two classes per semester is sufficient to cover the number of unavoidable absences that a student is reasonably likely to need for stuff like a bad cold, or a broken down car, or whatever. If they are ill for longer than that, or have some other issue that requires three weeks away, then they really need to go through the student advising office and work out a strategy, because they will fall behind in all their courses.
I’m also a reasonable person, and i generally err on the side of credulity when it comes to student excuses, even when i can smell the bullshit in the air. Like the time a couple of semesters ago when 4 students in a class of 21 had their computers “crash” on them the day the final paper was due.
I have had 5 students come to me with major PC issues and deadlines looming. 3 of them actually called me back to thank me because their instructors allowed them to turn in a project a few days late based on my invoice/explanation of their computer problem.
A computer doctors note if you will 
I think you misunderstood Obsidian, not me. I was, indeed, talking about encountering a teacher who DID trust his students. Obsidian acknowledged this, but then talked about how different the working world is from THE MAJORITY of educational institutions (not my prof.)
Zoe, your post about your experience in the hospital and how you were treated, from start to finish, is horrifying. I remember how vulnerable I felt during my own hospitalization, but fortunately it is school policy to have a student representative notify all professors immediately if a student is hospitalized. I got a lot of support, but ended up having to drop all my classes anyways. I’m glad you got through that despite how painful it must have been. huggles
Illnesses affect people different ways. Doctor’s can only verify the time that you presented yourself at their office. How long did you feel bad before that? A day? Three? A week? They have no way of verifying how long you were sick prior to showing up. It’s like providing a witness statement when you weren’t there.
The same illness that made you feel like poo for two days, might’ve wiped someone else out for a week. Someone else might’ve barely felt bad at all, but if he/she is a douchebag, may try to claim “I was sick, that’s why I failed the test from a month ago!”
Most university professors, will grant you a few days grace if you present them with a note. Clearly you were feeling bad enough to go to the doctor, and if the doctor issued you a note, then it’s a good bet that you were at least somewhat incapacitated before then. Most profs take that into account. (Except the assholes.)
And if you encounter an asshole, contact your student ombudsman or union (if you have one) and talk with someone there.
Oh, i have absolutely no doubt that computers fail. I’ve had computer problems a couple of times that, if i were a student and had something due that day, probably would have screwed me up. It was more the fact that 4 students out of 21 happened to have computer problems on precisely the day their paper was due.
I’d just like to add a general comment on the issue of missed classes and late work. For the most part, your teachers are not automatons who have no desire or ability to exercise discretion and human decency. They are, like most people, sympathetic to students who have genuine reasons for missing class or falling behind.
However, as i’ve said to many a student in the past, i can’t do anything about it if you don’t let me know as soon as possible. So, if you miss four classes in a row, and fail to hand in an assignment, and fail to let me know why, don’t be surprised when you get an F, even if the reason for your absence was a death in the family or a terrible illness. I can’t take your circumstances into consideration if i don’t know about them.
Also, like it or not, college teachers tend to factor in general credibility issues when it comes to how sympathetic we are towards student excuses. If you’ve been a good student all semester, turned up to class, participated in class discussion, and generally made a good effort, then i’ll probably be happy to cut you some slack if your paper’s a day late or if you miss a class or two. If, on the other hand, you wander in 15 minutes late to every lesson, make no effort to join in class discussion, do crappy written work, and generally make it clear that you’d rather be anywhere else but here, i’ll be less likely to accept your sob-story about why you missed class or were late with your paper.
Absolutely.
Some of the stories i’ve read on this board about unreasonable professors have made me really angry. I recall a recent incident (can’t remember who started the thread) where the professor essentially told the student that the exam would cover certain chapters, and then proceeded to give an exam that covered completely different chapters.
Teachers have a professional responsibility to treat their students fairly, and to make clear up front what the policies and requirements of the class are.
Ok, doctor here.
I can write a note for someone saying “so and so was an in-patient in my hospital from ____ to ___.” If they had surgery and their job involves driving I can say “so and so will not be fit to drive a vehicle until they can safely perform an emergency stop”.
I cannot write notes giving them time off after they are discharged from hospital. If they want a sick line for further days off, they have to go to their own GP. I can personally only say how sick they are when I saw them, I can’t say whether 5 days later they are fit for work or not.
Personally, I was back at work (on my feet, 12 hour shifts, 11 days straight) as an intern 6 days after a laparoscopy. However, I would advise most people to take 10 days off work afterwards, and go back to light duties only, but I don’t write a sick line for those 10 days.
I certainly can’t take your word for it that you were unable to work if I did not examine you at the time. It’s not ethical, because unless I examined you, I have only your opinion that you were unfit to work. While your opinion is valuable, it is not a *medical * opinion.
Not to mention the fact that nowadays you have to wait days to even get in to SEE the doctor. When I had the flu during my final semester of college, they couldn’t schedule me in any further ahead than a week and half. My husband took a half day off of work to drive me to a student walk-in clinic that day, because it was clear I was in pretty bad shape. The doctor refused to discuss any of the symptoms I’d had the week before, such as severe stomach cramps and apparent bleeding (her exact words were: ‘‘I’m not asking about the symptoms you had last week. I’m asking about why you walked in today. Why did you come in TODAY?’’ and promptly told me that I only had a fever of 101, and was therefore wasting her time with what amounted to ‘‘a cold.’’
I was so stunned and angry I left without a doctor’s note, and within about an hour of leaving my temp was up to 103 degrees and I was writhing in misery on the sofa. When I finally got into my general practitioner a week later, I was almost completely recovered. There was no point in asking for a note. Thank GOD I had that wonderful prof, or my participation grade (worth 40% of the total in that course) could have seriously suffered.
Wow, that sort of strikes me as irresponsible.
If, in your experience and in your considered and expert medical opinion, a laparoscopy generally requires a recovery period of about 10 days before going back to work, then the very least you should do, in my opinion, is write a letter to this effect. You might also note that some people recover more quickly, but that the person in question should not be required to work before that 10-day period if they are not feeling well enough.
Surely it’s better to err on the side of caution (medical, not employment) in cases like this?
My doctor’s notes say to the effect:
So-n-So has been under Doctor You-Know-Who’s care *since *Such-n-Such time.
Doctor You-Know-Who
I agree. “Congratulations on your new heart, Mr Johnson. I can excuse you for the 8 hours of surgery time only, after that if your boss expects you to be at work the next morning then I can’t help you. Good luck with your artery stitches while tossing those hay bales!”
I exaggerate of course, but holy crap that sounds like serious litigation waiting to happen!
Ugh. I had the hospital do this after a car accident. The ER doc told me to take a week off, then refused to write a note for that (“I can only note you were in the ER today”). The wait to get in with an othopedic was a month, and even my GP was a week (“If you can’t wait, go back to the ER”).
I went back to work in 3 days, and by the time I saw the ortho (who said he would have back-dated the note), I’d made the whole thing worse. I still have back problems because of that.
I don’t write the notes after discharge, the GP does. It’s the system, and I don’t make the rules.
This is the NHS, you see a doctor for free and you don’t have to wait weeks to see them.
I advise people that it usually takes 10 days to be fit for work, but I know I was fit after 5, and some people won’t be fit at 14. Since we usually discharge laparoscopy patients the same day as their surgery, I don’t know which group they will be in. Their GP will.
Patients are advised to make their GP aware of the date of their surgery and on discharge from hospital the GP has a discharge letter posted to them, so they know to expect to have to write a sick line for that patient if they need one.
As a system it actually works quite well.
Possibly because in the UK many employers only require a doctors note for sick leave over 3 days, and some only require a doctors note for sick leave over 7 days. See here.