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Staying Home Sick : Easier Said Than Done

Discussion
Sep 28, 2009
by: jgardner
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Schools are the perfect place to cultivate and spread all sorts of diseases. In an ideal world, when you were sick you would stay home and by doing so you would recover faster and risk spreading your infection to others. So why is it that so many students come to school in a less than healthy state? Personally, I hate missing school. It is so difficult to make up the work that you missed and even though our school has the supposed two day policy to make up work, this doesn't always work. For example, what happens when you return to school on the due date of an assignment but missed the announcement of it? Or what should teachers do if you come back on the day of a test? Should they make you take it or let you take it later? Also with the ease of creating websites, many teachers have detailed sites saying what was done in class each day. However, when I'm sick the last thing I want to do is homework. But making up missed work is also very difficult. Missing tests and quizzes is the worst. Especially when there is no uniformity in how the make-up exams are administered. Some teachers put missed exams in the testing center, while others force you to schedule an appointment with them to make up the test. Also, some times teachers want you to have a full hour or longer for an exam but then can't meet you before school giving you enough time to do it. With sports and other activities making up tests after school is nearly impossible for some students. It was especially difficult when I missed a week and a half last year and did not have a free period during which to take my tests.

   As if making up work isn't bad enough there is also the administrational hassle. After missing a certain number of days, and without a doctors note excusing these absences, my school's policy is that you fail your classes. How is the school going to deal with prolonged absences, especially now with the risk of H1N1. The CDC is saying that any positive H1N1 cases should stay in social isolation for 7-10 days or until the symptoms have passed, which could take longer. But because school is so hard to miss many students will still come to school while ill and thus the disease will spread. The idea of staying home sick from school is much easier said than done. Unless you want to fail all your classes. Then its easy.


 

Comments

Jenny-    I completely

Submitted by ccurtin on Tue, 2009-09-29 14:10.

Jenny-
    I completely agree with what you are saying here! It seems to me that school policies are contradictory on so many issues, especially in regard to absences. I've yet to figure out whether missing school for a trip is excused or unexcused. And in the case of being out sick, it's just as confusing. Yes it's true, all my teachers have told us "if you're sick, stay home." and that's all I'm sure any sick person wants to do, but it's not that simple. Missing just one day of school makes it near impossible to ever catch up on your work because as you are doing the assignments you missed, the ones more recently assigned often don't get attended to simply because there is not enough time in the day, causing extra stress that may lead to further illness. Staying home sick is now a major decision that can take weeks to fully recover from, both physically and in terms of school work. Thanks for bringing up this problem.

-Carrie

Jenny, I completely agree

Submitted by sierrad on Fri, 2009-10-02 23:45.

Jenny,

I completely agree with you about everything in your post. Especially “However, when I'm sick the last thing I want to do is homework.”  Of course I stay home to other I don’t get other people sick, but also I’m sick so homework is my last priority.
Also the “planned absence form”… Supposedly that is so you can let your teachers know you are going on a trip and won’t be at school. They are supposed to write down the assignments you’re going to miss, I guess so you can do them while your away. But if I’m on a trip why would I be doing homework?! So I bring all my books on the trip, but then I never actually do it. Then when I come back to school I have to complete the assignments I missed plus the ones I get that day. So frusturating.
And missing a test is the worst thing that can happen. I missed Friday and Monday of last week, subsequently missing three long tests and a quiz. All which had to be made up in two days or less. With one free and activities after school it was very difficult to make all the tests up.
Thanks for letting me know I’m not the only one who gets stressed when missing days of school.

 

 I entirely agree with your

Submitted by hrashid on Thu, 2009-10-08 22:36.

 I entirely agree with your post, "Staying Home Sick: Easy Said Than Done," because it explains the difficulties of students who are ill, not to attend school. Even though, in school, students are encouraged to stay home when sick to avoid spreading their sickness, this may risk a student's grades. Many students as well as parents, don't want them to take the risk and send them to school, sick.

One sentence you wrote that stands out for me is: "Also with the ease of creating websites, many teachers have detailed sites saying what was done in class each day. However, when I'm sick the last thing I want to do is homework." I think this is annoying because teachers expect you to hand in all your missed work the day you come back. Instead, they should give an extra day since, you need to catch and if you are so sick that you aren't able to come to school, what makes the teachers think we have the energy to do all that work? 

Another sentence that I liked was: "The idea of staying home sick from school is much easier said than done. Unless you want to fail all your classes. Then its easy." This stood out for me because with so much missed work and all the catching up, it's like students aren't even allowed to be sick unless they want to fail their class.

I do agree with you that staying home sick, is easier said than done. One reason I say this is because students can't take a risk of falling behind in class. Another reason I agree with you is parents may force their children to go to school sometimes too even if they are sick.

Thanks for your writing. I look forward to seeing what you write next, because you seem to have the similar thoughts as I do. Also, your post makes me thinks of other things related to the topic, that I wouldn't have thought of myself but agree with.

 I entirely agree with your

Submitted by hrashid on Thu, 2009-10-08 22:36.

 I entirely agree with your post, "Staying Home Sick: Easy Said Than Done," because it explains the difficulties of students who are ill, not to attend school. Even though, in school, students are encouraged to stay home when sick to avoid spreading their sickness, this may risk a student's grades. Many students as well as parents, don't want them to take the risk and send them to school, sick.

One sentence you wrote that stands out for me is: "Also with the ease of creating websites, many teachers have detailed sites saying what was done in class each day. However, when I'm sick the last thing I want to do is homework." I think this is annoying because teachers expect you to hand in all your missed work the day you come back. Instead, they should give an extra day since, you need to catch and if you are so sick that you aren't able to come to school, what makes the teachers think we have the energy to do all that work? 

Another sentence that I liked was: "The idea of staying home sick from school is much easier said than done. Unless you want to fail all your classes. Then its easy." This stood out for me because with so much missed work and all the catching up, it's like students aren't even allowed to be sick unless they want to fail their class.

I do agree with you that staying home sick, is easier said than done. One reason I say this is because students can't take a risk of falling behind in class. Another reason I agree with you is parents may force their children to go to school sometimes too even if they are sick.

Thanks for your writing. I look forward to seeing what you write next, because you seem to have the similar thoughts as I do. Also, your post makes me thinks of other things related to the topic, that I wouldn't have thought of myself but agree with.

Jenny- I think about this

Submitted by alyssabird14 on Fri, 2009-10-09 13:00.

Jenny-

I think about this all the time! Last year, I came down with some sort of illness that kept me out for a whole week. I knew that there was going to be so much work to make up, and that just added to my misery. The following Monday, I decided to go to school, because if I missed anymore I was never going to be able to catch up. I went and was MISERABLE. I couldn't focus, got absolutely nothing accomplished, and probably infected a bunch of people. About a week later, I got a letter in the mail from Judge saying that if I missed anymore school, I would fail the classes. It's completely insane! Especially with teacher pushing us to STAY HOME no matter when we get sick. I always think, yeah I would really love to stay home and recover, but I can't because I will be behind for weeks. Not to mention, I will most likely get another letter that informs me I'm going to be failing classes. So if we come to school sick, it's definitely not by choice.

     Well I agree with

Submitted by dzhapa on Sun, 2009-10-11 14:47.

 

   Well I agree with you when you said that:  It is so difficult to make up the work that you missed and even though our school has the supposed two day policy to make up work, this doesn't always work. It's very hard to go back to school after you been sick you have to do your new work.