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School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

nytimes.com

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Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#371

Post by paulryanrogers »

ishopatbakers wrote: post #363
ryandrake wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think the real issue here is that a subset of people simply have fewer fucks to give about school, and that has been accelerated by the distance and space that COVID created between students/parents and school. Some parents are even giving negative-fucks about school, in other words being actively against public education, teachers, and so on. I know of Facebook groups where parents share tips on how to maximize…

>Just look at the comments in this article dunking on the school system! Education is, for most people, their only shot at achieving the ever-shrinking middle class. You're equating attending public school with "Education". The two can be mutually exclusive.

Having experienced how home schooling is in the Midwest, I'd say education and homeschooling is usually more mutually exclusive there than the vast majority of public schools. (Sample size: 10 public schools, 3 home school groups)

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#372

Post by paulryanrogers »

secstate wrote: post #314
elboru wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. Even if I don’t fully agree with the motives, it’s dishonest to say they are just afraid of science and math ignoring the politicized atmosphere we’ve been dealing with in recent years across all spectrums of society.

Gah, it's not even the politicization! I dare you to sit through a 3rd grade class at your neighborhood school. Nothing gets done. They do projects with little to no mooring to curriculum. That is, unless you live in a top percentile district that values curriculum mapping, but then you were already going to be in the middle class at least. In the meantime, most of these schools are day cares so parents can work. Mar…

At my daughter's kindergarten they provide hours per week of ESL support, in addition to the regular material. The walls are covered in curriculum, including more about phonics than I was taught in my first 2 years growing up in the southeast. (Thankfully that era's anti-phonics fad passed by and even those schools got better.)

Things aren't always getting worse. And IME the schools tend to get better in the long term.

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#373

Post by paulryanrogers »

nytesky wrote: post #178
kube-system wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 daughter has missed 10 days of school because of a lingering cough even when not actively sick. She doesn’t sleep well and teachers now consider her disruptive if coughing in class. I think th expectation is no longer to go to school with sniffles and a box of tissues.

My daughter had a cough for 4 weeks. She saw the doc twice over that time period. They said it was viral and for her to get plenty of rest and fluids. Only had a fever for two of those days. If we'd kept her home every day she coughed the she'd have missed 25+ days.

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#374

Post by jajko »

gravescale wrote: post #32

I think some parents and kids have realised that much of that slog is ever less about the education and more about using children as tools for buffing the school or district stats in the best case or it's just riot control in the worst case. Miss a day or two of school and now you're "behind" because you don't know some trivia¹ that's on your next standardised test. Mostly irrelevant to the student, but highly worryi…

You are missing forest for the trees - states dont want to raise a generation of alpha males with big ego and unsatiable drive to success.

Thats not what the core of any population is, and hence not much catered for, not in public state funded institution.

Now another topic is whats good for any individual kid and society long term, those can be quite different matters.

I see those points in same way you do, but consider them more a parental responsibility and a way to give your kids a head start if you actually care. Look at what kind of folks stay teachers and how they are paid - dont expect miracles. Sad state of affairs, but it is what it is

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#376

Post by [deleted] »

nec4b wrote: post #336
williamcotton wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it isn’t. I work side-by-side the CEO and as a colleague and he works more hours than anyone else. He’s a great person and a friend. We have multiple people in a company of about 15 who have worked there for over 20 years. Who are you working for?

Maybe for somebody who doesn't make him go to the office when sick?

[deleted]

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#377

Post by taeric »

lolinder wrote: post #369
taeric wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lack of empathy for the how hard it is to run school. This place is dominated by people that know how things should be done and how things should be run. At large, they are wrong. I'm open to the idea that I'm wrong on this, of course. Just peruse the top posts and you will see all sorts of assertions about how this isn't actually a problem. There are more than a few pointing out that schooling is irrelevant. Again,…

Sorry, I'm still lost. The GP was talking about all the reasons why their specific child might need to be somewhere other than in class on specific days. What does that have to do with empathy for how hard it is to run a school?

The GP is saying that all of the issues existed in years past. I'm saying that what happened is a lot of the current cohort of parents on this website were kids that excelled and likely did outside of school studying. For us, it may seem natural to think many of the things that you are seeing promoted on this site. That does not make these assertions true.

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#378

Post by lupusreal »

vundercind wrote: post #288
lupusreal wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I also find that attitude wild. Missing school by choice was something to be done only in extraordinary circumstances. Word of kids being gone for long vacations and such would get that look (“oh, they’re those sorts”) and a disappointed head shake from my parents. (My parents’ background was dirt poor, rural, and white, to set the scene—but skipping by choice was something not to be taken lightly, you go to school ,…

Same background as me. The times I 'voluntarily' skipped school were funerals of relatives. I think our perspective is the more common one in the general population, but I guess HN has a lot of those sort of people.

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#379

Post by workingdog »

monkey_monkey wrote: post #327
workingdog wrote: post #324

I'd rather my kids go with me to Japan than spend a week learning that a new gender just dropped.

Looking at your comment history, your son might be better off at school than with you. 'London historically is a nice city. It's too bad that rampant criminal enterprise has been imported into it.' Jeeez.

[flagged]

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#380

Post by itsdrewmiller »

sethammons wrote: post #190
mminer237 wrote: post #111

Talking with our local school administrators, this does seem to be the biggest challenge they're facing. From their point of view, it's just caused by (typically poorer) parents who don't care about their kids' education and saw how it seemed to be optional during COVID and so just don't make their kids go if they don't feel like it. It's really sad, and it sounds incredibly hard for anyone else to do anything about.

The article points out the rise in truancy is similar across socioeconomic boundaries

It was 9% in richer districts and 13% in poorer districts - I’d definitely be interested in further analysis to see an intra-district breakdown.
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