Why Absences Should Not Be Counted Towards Finals

There needs to be a change in the way schools count absences in our school district. Only verified absences should be counted towards finals. Absences like medical, funeral, and college absences (only some absences are counted for going to see colleges or universities that are actually recorded as an activity by the school) should not be counted towards finals. For example, one of your family members might have passed away; you would like to attend that funeral and you might want to “take a week off” to grieve for your loss. This shouldn’t be counted towards finals. The State of Idaho needs to change the way absences are counted towards finals as it is an underlying issue. There needs to be an executive order to change this situation. The …show more content…
A concussion can physically stop you from doing anything, let alone being able to go to school. Some students may not be physically able to go to school. Right now, even if students had Pneumonia and they provided a doctor’s note to the school, it would still count towards finals. Does this make sense? This is quite inconceivable to think such an absence is counted towards finals. Let’s say that you lost a brother, uncle, or a close family member. You would want some time off of school and you would need at least (if not more) a week off to grieve for your loss. It is a funeral of your family member. Would you want to have to worry that if you missed a day from school to attend a funeral, it would be counted towards finals? We should stop “punishing” students for having health problems, funerals, and absences that are similar to these situations. Students deserve to be given a little slack just in case we are injured or sick. Why should the school count such an absence towards finals if a student just lost one of his parents or is sick to the point of staying in a hospital bed? This student also may need some time with the family to plan the funeral or some time to recover from life-threatening …show more content…
Senior Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, explains to us what the President is going to do and what it feels like to have unpaid sick leave. “The President signed a memorandum that grants federal workers six weeks of paid leave after birth or adoption of a child, plus the right to six additional weeks of unpaid leave. The directive also applies to federal workers caring for ailing family members. Anyone who has ever faced the challenge of raising or supporting a family, while holding down a job, has faced tough choices along the way, and likely felt stretched between the financial and personal needs of their family”(Feldmann). This makes total sense. This same concept can be applied to school just not the “paid sick leave”, of course. Some people need a break whether it is from sickness or personal needs. Instead of being punished for not going to your job, President Obama has offered “help” to workers who need some time off from work. This concept needs to be applied to