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School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

nytimes.com

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Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#141

Post by trgn »

_dain_ wrote: post #115
willis936 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those ahead don't need additional benefit. We should be working to bring the left half of the distribution into the fold. If a student is so great that they're skipping out of boredom then there's little that a public institution should do to help them. They can go out with a head start and go get em.

>Those ahead don't need additional benefit. Perhaps, but they also shouldn't be artificially held back . Life doesn't have a speed limit. >If a student is so great that they're skipping out of boredom then there's little that a public institution should do to help them. This doesn't follow at all. Why wouldn't you want to invest in the people with the most potential?

> shouldn't be artificially held back.

but are they? It seems like every school district has magnets, AP tracks, relationship with community colleges, extracurriculars, skipping a year,... for the smart ones.

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#142

Post by whywhywhywhy »

mattw2121 wrote: post #9

"because teachers must slow down and adjust their approach to keep everyone on track." Do this and then you'll have your top performers start being absent as well -- out of boredom. I'd suggest sending kids that are lagging behind, and those that have high absentee rates, into remedial classes. Education should get kids excited about learning. From my experience, nothing gets kids more excited than the feeling that t…

Ah yes put the kids struggling (let’s ignore it could be the teachers being bad that causes this) with the disruptive kids so it’s even harder for them to learn. Great solution.

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#143

Post by nothercastle »

freitzkriesler2 wrote: post #131
williamcotton wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Minor sniffles and sneezes should not result in anyone staying home. The pandemic has clearly altered this mentality but it doesn’t seem like a good trajectory. A little cold is barely an inconvenience.

Pretty much this. People keep kids home now for almost any reason at all and you'll get a chorus of replies telling you that your opinion is wrong. People need to toughen up. Not every cold is covid.

Why do you care? Most public schools are so slow now you could miss a month and they would still have not covered more than a week of material

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#144

Post by jcpst »

freitzkriesler2 wrote: post #131
williamcotton wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Minor sniffles and sneezes should not result in anyone staying home. The pandemic has clearly altered this mentality but it doesn’t seem like a good trajectory. A little cold is barely an inconvenience.

Pretty much this. People keep kids home now for almost any reason at all and you'll get a chorus of replies telling you that your opinion is wrong. People need to toughen up. Not every cold is covid.

Also- getting cold symptoms and simply not acknowledging that it could be covid doesn’t make it not covid.

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#145

Post by whywhywhywhy »

Aaargh20318 wrote: post #39
Aachen wrote: post #17

> Everywhere * in the USA

Is school in the US optional? Over here (the Netherlands) school is mandatory for anyone under 18. Skipping school without a valid reason (e.g. illness) comes with a €100/day fine.

Where does the money go?

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#146

Post by HumblyTossed »

jraby3 wrote: post #7

In Israel a lot of the schools start with 20 minutes of body movement (at least near me). The kids become active. It’s not as big a deal if they are a little late. And my daughter (but not my son) hates missing it.

My SO and I foster so we have to take training so many hours per year to keep our license. One year we were able to take classes with some teachers and one of the classes was about alternative teaching that included a lot of motion. Kids would have balls to sit on, small trampolines, etc in the class. There was a lot of motion during the day. I recall the teachers being both excited and sad; they thought the ideas were worth consideration, but they knew nothing like this would happen at their schools.

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#147

Post by i80and »

williamcotton wrote: post #90
MattGaiser wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Back when I was in school about a decade ago, kids came to school sick as dogs as taking time off for being sick was seen as malingering. A friend at another school knew a guy who came to school with a stomach bug and puked several times throughout the day as they had a perfect attendance incentive worth grades, so to ensure he got his grades, he walked around puking for the day. I spent plenty of classes hacking and…

Minor sniffles and sneezes should not result in anyone staying home. The pandemic has clearly altered this mentality but it doesn’t seem like a good trajectory. A little cold is barely an inconvenience.

If you're sneezing and sniffling, please for the love of god, do not go to the office.

Even before the pandemic we had that policy, and it's a very good default. No, colds are not the end of the world, but they are genuinely miserable, and you will share it. And if money is all somebody cares about, well, colds also diminish work output, so one ne'er-do-well going in sick can screw up an entire department's metrics over the course of several months.

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#148

Post by _dain_ »

trgn wrote: post #141
_dain_ wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Those ahead don't need additional benefit. Perhaps, but they also shouldn't be artificially held back . Life doesn't have a speed limit. >If a student is so great that they're skipping out of boredom then there's little that a public institution should do to help them. This doesn't follow at all. Why wouldn't you want to invest in the people with the most potential?

> shouldn't be artificially held back. but are they? It seems like every school district has magnets, AP tracks, relationship with community colleges, extracurriculars, skipping a year,... for the smart ones.

We don't have "school districts" here nevermind any of that other stuff. Skipping a year is practically unheard of. There were "gifted and talented" programmes but those were just holding pens, there was no serious attempt to teach more advanced material

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#149

Post by williamcotton »

trgn wrote: post #119
williamcotton wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you take your kids on a vacation during school? There are plenty of breaks during the year including all of summer.

My gut agrees with you, but then we'll be keeping our young kids out of preschool to go see the eclipse. So much for principles lol.

We’re in luck in central Texas as they’ve canceled most school for the eclipse!

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#150

Post by InitialLastName »

gilbetron wrote: post #101
jawns wrote: post #18

Is it possible that expectations around attendance have never been reasonable or even safe? In an ideal world, people shouldn't go to work or school when they are sick. Not only does it slow their recovery, but in the case of communicable diseases, it spreads the illness. Yet a lot of schools have released post-pandemic guidance about how students should still come to school with minor illnesses. And most workplaces…

I think we do have too little leeway for illnesses for school, but I don't think that's what is going on, at least anecdotally around me. Many parents take their kids out of school for week long vacations, for instance. Also, my son informed me that the day before a big break only half the kids will show up. Plus kids will often just leave because they feel like going home that day. I thought he was exaggerating, but…

My high school went from ~20% Jewish to 80% Jewish every Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
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