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School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

nytimes.com

381–390 of 401 posts

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#381

By compartmentalizing school to a square on a zoom call for 2+ years why are they surprised when the students treat it like a square on a zoom call.

It said in the article that this was a problem for schools that reopened quickly too (although didn’t give numbers).

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#382

My wife and I have noticed this, and it is really bizarre because it is across all kinds of demographics. We consider school mandatory for our son, except for medical reasons or significant events (funeral, for instance). Nearly all of his friends, even those that have teacher parents, will often be out of school, "because we wanted to go skiing" or "didn't feel like it today". I don't get it at all, like I didn't ge…

Just kept my kids out of school a couple days for skiing earlier this week. In my opinion, the education that school offers is only a small subset of all the things one can and/or should learn and experience in life. Academics are, of course, important, and we ensure that our kids are among the top of their classes. But there's so much more to life. I feel absolutely zero guilt for playing hookie to expose them to exciting, interesting, challenging, fulfilling experiences.

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#383
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…

lol, i was chronically absent for an entire mathematics degree and still finished with a 3.5 gpa. chronic absence doesn’t mean shit imo.

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#384
post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't think having a cold or two is going to put many people in this category. Have you been around kids post COVID? Winters after the pandemic have been a nightmare for many parents. My nephews have basically been "sick" the whole winter (getting sick, staying home, recovering, going back to school, getting a new virus, repeat).

It's been the same for my kids. Another thing I've noticed is that post-covid they've come home from school with more stories of the teachers just putting on videos and having the kids watch that, or else they just read crap on their tablets. What I'm saying is, it seems like education has also changed post-covid. It's like the teachers are still remote-teaching even though everybody's in the classroom. This is publi…

I went to public school in California in the 1960s and early 1970s. I remember a lot of time spent watching films and television programs during class. Sometimes the films had relevant educational content, but I realized even at the time that the main purpose was to pacify the children and give the teacher a break.

The worst case I remember was a social studies teacher in junior high school who, during the World Series, turned on the classroom television to the game and had us all watch it with him.

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#385

Perhaps it's because most schooling seems irrelevant to many of the students? I went to very good schools and actually enjoyed quite a lot of my schooldays but even while I was there I could see that a lot of it was a complete and utter waste of everyone's time. I spent six years attending French classes and three of Latin. I can't read, write, speak, or understand either one. I moved to Norway fifteen years later an…

It's not the methods. If you and all the rest of your class would have been motivated the methods would have worked fine.

Are you sure? I struggled for years to maintain a decent mark in french class. 2 months of duolingo for spanish and I was able to have conversations.

A grammar, written first approach is hard and boring but it does scale to 30 students for 1 teacher though.

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#386
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…

I mean, my children had fever 3 weeks this year and we have been responsible and avoided sending them in school when they have very bad cough and runny nose (3 and 5). We are already at 15 days of absence this year because of that. Children are always sick.

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#387
post #275

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…

> I don't think having a cold or two is going to put many people in this category. Have you been around kids post COVID? Winters after the pandemic have been a nightmare for many parents. My nephews have basically been "sick" the whole winter (getting sick, staying home, recovering, going back to school, getting a new virus, repeat).

Same here (and we get it too). These 2 weeks are the first time I don't have extra mucus in my chest because there is no school.

Tuesday we are getting sick again, sigh.

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#388

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, the plebs should have been infected ASAP. We would have leapfrogged the economical development of other countries.

Or maybe just do what Europe did? America is unique in its decision to shut down schools, in California some districts were literally closed for a year.

Europe closed schools and businesses too.

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand this attitude. Most sw engineers at a startup are well compensated salary wise. Who cares if you also have a lottery ticket.

Well at least 5 years ago it became clear you should value those tickets at ~$0 at most startups when making career decisions, so those tickets come at significant opportunity cost even if the other money is "good."

I've always valued equity at zero and am clear I want cash. Most companies have obliged and some of my equity has panned out. That's the point of job-hopping -- to acquire as much equity as you can. In my case, I've bounced around many AI startups and have my hands in many pots. You gotta be smart about how this works. If there's a certain industry you think will do well, doing a year or two at all the startups in the field gives you access to all the private startup equity. One of them will succeed almost certainly, even if most will not.

Re: School absences have ‘exploded’ almost everywhere

#390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh goodness... This must be satire.

Just give it 10 years, when you freshly graduate college ready to start a 40 year career.

I'm in my thirties with three kids; hoping to be done with working in a decade or so. Tech industry is basically free money.
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