Every year during the second semester, or maybe even the first semester for those who miss school often, students get a familiar note home about how many absences they have. The school is kind enough to send parents warning notices that their child is missing school and is close to their 10 allowed days of absence per school year. After 10 days, some students have said that if they missed another day of school, they were told they would receive a detention. For some students, I believe that this makes sense, but when the school sends out the notices for 10 absences, instead of sending a generic one-size-fits-all message, they should look at the student they are potentially giving detention to.

Being a person who travels often and is involved with school activities, I miss school a lot. If there is a student in a similar situation as me, and has a good reputation in school, earns good grades, turns in work on time and always makes up work that they have missed, the school shouldn’t worry about how much school they miss if it is within reason. On the other hand, a student who is often caught skipping class or has excused absences yet doesn’t complete the necessary work deserves to get detention after missing 10 full days of school.

Teachers know which of their students value their schoolwork, and many times a good student who knows they are going to be gone for some reason or another will ask for their homework ahead of time. This shows responsibility, and speaking for myself, I cannot go out of town without knowing what I will be missing in the following days. I try to complete my work before I leave so that I don’t have to worry about it if I’m out of town, or I like to have it finished by the time I get back. I rarely get behind in a class, and if I do, it isn’t because I missed a day, it’s because I just don’t understand the material.

My parents are tired of receiving notices in the mail saying that I have missed too much school already, and I am especially exhausted by having to plan out my absences strategically so that I don’t miss school for more than 10 days. Because of this rule, I have to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of family trips, school-sponsored activities and illness. Unless a student is at risk of failing a class or not being able to graduate, or they simply are irresponsible when they are in class, they shouldn’t have to worry about when they can miss school or not.