Reply to Increase Absenteeism in Midle/Upper SES students not due to illness?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The schedule is just an excuse or shows you're uninformed.

Don't get me wrong. As an AP teacher, I hate this schedule with all the short weeks, which has taken away all the time I would have for review before the AP test, forces us to stay in school much earlier/later, and gives an excuse to parents who don't care about academics to just take extended vacations at random times.

In my classes, a not insubstantial portion is constantly skipping on quiz and test days. As in...I can  see on their attendance that they came for 1st, skipped 3rd and then went to class for 5th and 7th. Or they're constantly sick, or being checked out by their parent, or have a doctor's appointment when there's an assessment. And they're constantly in catch up mode and asking for special treatment.

A majority is still doing fine, attending regularly and doing what they're supposed to do when they're supposed to do it. But the proportion that's mired in kind of a sh___ show is increasing. I think many are in classes that are simply too hard for them.
 [/quote]

Different district.  I let my kid stay home at times to work/catch up.  He tells me that the smartest, most accelerated kids are sicking out, leaving school mid-day to avoid tests they are not prepared for, etc.  Exactly what the teacher above reports.

My kid is smart enough to do AP work...has been getting 4s and 5s but he is overloaded with school and ECs both (just a few ECs, but time intensive choices).  One way in which he is specifically overloaded is the amount of busywork he is required to do for grades.  Busywork that takes hours, that college students do not have to do, that means the difference between an A and a B.  For example turning in lengthy handwritten outline notes for textbooks in AP History classes.  This takes a lot of time and is low value for people in my family because we have very strong reading comprehension and retention skills.  I am not presumptuous.  I know that some kids need this kind of notetaking to absorb the material.  The teacher is also a fine teacher.   This is also true of honors math where all the homework must be done and turned in in order to allow extra credit to be pursued. It's just simply low value for my student but unavoidable.

In high school the kids usually have more classes than in college and more frequent exams.  Sometimes inconveniently stacked up.

Taking less rigorous classes is not a good option because they've mainstreamed them full of C students who don't like school at all.

I'll admit that since things have gotten so Wild West and there's nothing I can do to better the school environment I just allow sicking out.  My kid is usually beaming at the end of the day and is fully caught up on all his work.  I am concerned for his mental health because he doesn't actually like school even though his grades have been good.  I need to keep his mental health on track so he goes straight to college instead of burning out.  We've looked into "the trades".  Where I am, becoming a union electrician takes 5 years.  It's not an easy out.[/quote]

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