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School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

nytimes.com

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Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#231

Post by Auracle »

kube-system wrote: post #140
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…

> Chronic absence is typically defined as missing at least 10 percent of the school year, or about 18 days, for any reason. I don't think having a cold or two is going to put many people in this category. Decades ago when I was in public school, the kids who were chronically absent like this were the ones who clearly had some behavioral issues or problems at home. The linked study also demonstrates that the rates are…

My colds typically last 3 weeks with about 7-10 days of them being full-on. I also have an (obviously) terrible immune system and get quite a few per year.

Obviously it’s not doable to stay away from school that much, and I only did when I had a fever or was puking. That said, there were probably some years I at least got close to that 18 days. I would think the few years I went on a vacation I definitely went over it.

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#233

Post by SV_BubbleTime »

tgv wrote: post #102
janwillemb wrote: post #11

> attendance has become optional I recognize this with my own kids and my students. Two things: 1) since the pandemic the bar for a sick day has been lowered drastically. 2) Educational material can be found online in most of the cases, at least in my university. Students think they can handle it themselves from home. These are not necessarily bad developments. What would be interesting to see is if the drop out rate…

> What would be interesting to see is if the drop out rate has increased. Unis will drop their standards to get the desired pass rates.

They have a federally ensured revenue stream, in what world wouldn’t they raise prices and lower standards?

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#234

Post by bombcar »

alpaca128 wrote: post #50
fullshark wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are probably bad developments, as much as we want to pretend kids are strong minded independent learners, the reality is they are kids and need guidance and a teacher to instill discipline. This is something we've known for millennia that we want to pretend isn't true because it's more convenient to ignore, also because of our obsession with venerating youth culturally.

Based on my experience the first problem there is that many teachers are incapable of providing guidance or enforcing discipline. And that's assuming the teacher still cares, which isn't guaranteed either. And with teachers having to deal with bad pay and crazy parents thinking it's the teacher's job to raise their kid that's not surprising. Kids not going to school is a symptom, and it's not going to be solved with…

Even the teachers that care are no longer (in many cases) backed up by the school and (more importantly) the parents.

Everyone in my high school didn't really care too much about taking a detention (it was annoying) but would work pretty studiously to avoid anything being sent home to the parents.

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#235

Post by trgn »

_dain_ wrote: post #148
trgn wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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

oki thx, I guess I don't have a clear idea of the wide range in how public schools are organized.

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#236

Post by lupusreal »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #164
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.

Because those breaks don't line up with things like the solar eclipse. Because those breaks don't line up with other cousins' breaks. Because those breaks don't line up with great-grandma's 95th birthday, and she lives a full day's journey away. Because those breaks don't line up with your work schedule, or your partner's work schedule. Because my child is excelling academically, and I absolutely don't think that she…

With one hand I can count all the times I was ever taken out of school in all my twelve years for any unexcused absences like these. Some of these seem farcical. Vacation lining up with my cousins' breaks? That's what summer break is for dude.

Truth is, some families just don't take education seriously.

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#237

Post by criddell »

bathtub365 wrote: post #196
andy99 wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you prioritize making your kids sit in school over taking them and doing something fun like a vacation, given the option? My first thought reading the headline was that more people are realizing the irrelevance of school and work, and prioritizing other things.

How will people make money to be able to afford to do those things?

How different do you think your life would be today if your parents pulled you out of 4th grade for a week in February to go skiing or to Disney or to see cousins?

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#240

Post by vundercind »

muaytimbo wrote: post #222

Kids don't want to be at school, teachers don't want to be at school, local residents don't want to fund schools. In NYC public school reading/math comprehension is at 50%. They fail as measured by their own grading scale every year. In aggregate, public schools are always lagging behind their private counterparts. Unfortunately once a large special interest group is subsidized by the taxpayer and a voter base is est…

> They fail as measured by their own grading scale every year. In aggregate, public schools are always lagging behind their private counterparts.

This on its own communicates nothing interesting. It’d be surprising if this weren’t the case, given private schools possess the superpower of not having to serve everyone.

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