Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As the teacher of that hard class, your son is making a mature, responsible choice.

I had 6 kids miss my class last week for a mid day band concert. They have now been behind all week and will struggle to catch up before Friday’s test.

I don’t know why performances have to be during the school day.

I don't know why either but its a no win for these kids. Maybe you could have helped the kids at lunch or another time to catch up. My kid always chooses class, which is a problem, as the band teacher refuses to let them do much beyond the absolute minimum, as they prioritize the kids who put band over academics first.

NP: why should a teacher have to give up their lunch to tutor a kid who chose to miss class? My athlete daughter misses the last class a few times during the season and we have never expected the teacher to give up free time to catch her up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As the teacher of that hard class, your son is making a mature, responsible choice.

I had 6 kids miss my class last week for a mid day band concert. They have now been behind all week and will struggle to catch up before Friday’s test.

I don’t know why performances have to be during the school day.

I can't imagine how missing one day of class for a school-related activity would cause someone to be this behind unless one or both teachers were being intentionally punitive.

It’s not punitive. The kid is missing content. This kid is mature and making a decision. I’m a math teacher and if we are learning a new and difficult topic with practice, many students want to be there. Sure, they can read the notes or come see me at another time but it’s not the same. In the higher level classes, that doesn’t replace a full block of a class of instruction and activities that will be missed. Some of this could be discussion on multiple ways to approach problems. They want to be there for the group discussion in the higher level classes.

HE should contact the band teacher and explain, not you.

I do think it’s a mature choice for him, but as a parent of two high achievers, there also needs to be a balance—if he misses the field trips and band concerts etc then he may be stressed out all the time. Athletes miss class to leave early for away meets, marching band and cheerleaders/poms get out of class a period before the pep rally to get ready, etc. It happens and a lot of those kids take high classes too. Your son won’t be the only one, but he may miss out on some of the fun/good parts of high school if he’s so stressed about missing class all the time.

I’d contact both teachers. I think your son is making the better choice, but not easy choice.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As the teacher of that hard class, your son is making a mature, responsible choice.

I had 6 kids miss my class last week for a mid day band concert. They have now been behind all week and will struggle to catch up before Friday’s test.

I don’t know why performances have to be during the school day.

I can't imagine how missing one day of class for a school-related activity would cause someone to be this behind unless one or both teachers were being intentionally punitive.

OP here - teacher for this class is amazing. Incredibly dedicated and gifted teacher - not punitive. But he has extremely high standards and class moves very quickly. DS does not want to miss class because the teachers is such a good lecturer so it is hard to recreate the in-class learning with just the text book or videos. DS already decided to pass on the spring amusement park band trip because it would require missing this class. (It is a block schedule school so missing one class is really like missing two classes).

He needs to drop band. Classes come first for him. It’s not easy to perform in a band when half,the members are missing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As the teacher of that hard class, your son is making a mature, responsible choice.

I had 6 kids miss my class last week for a mid day band concert. They have now been behind all week and will struggle to catch up before Friday’s test.

I don’t know why performances have to be during the school day.

I can't imagine how missing one day of class for a school-related activity would cause someone to be this behind unless one or both teachers were being intentionally punitive.

OP here - teacher for this class is amazing. Incredibly dedicated and gifted teacher - not punitive. But he has extremely high standards and class moves very quickly. DS does not want to miss class because the teachers is such a good lecturer so it is hard to recreate the in-class learning with just the text book or videos. DS already decided to pass on the spring amusement park band trip because it would require missing this class. (It is a block schedule school so missing one class is really like missing two classes).

Mine skips that stuff too but you might want to reach out to both teachers on how to handle it.

Anonymous wrote:As the teacher of that hard class, your son is making a mature, responsible choice.

I had 6 kids miss my class last week for a mid day band concert. They have now been behind all week and will struggle to catch up before Friday’s test.

I don’t know why performances have to be during the school day.

I don't know why either but its a no win for these kids. Maybe you could have helped the kids at lunch or another time to catch up. My kid always chooses class, which is a problem, as the band teacher refuses to let them do much beyond the absolute minimum, as they prioritize the kids who put band over academics first.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As the teacher of that hard class, your son is making a mature, responsible choice.

I had 6 kids miss my class last week for a mid day band concert. They have now been behind all week and will struggle to catch up before Friday’s test.

I don’t know why performances have to be during the school day.

I can't imagine how missing one day of class for a school-related activity would cause someone to be this behind unless one or both teachers were being intentionally punitive.

OP here - teacher for this class is amazing. Incredibly dedicated and gifted teacher - not punitive. But he has extremely high standards and class moves very quickly. DS does not want to miss class because the teachers is such a good lecturer so it is hard to recreate the in-class learning with just the text book or videos. DS already decided to pass on the spring amusement park band trip because it would require missing this class. (It is a block schedule school so missing one class is really like missing two classes).

Anonymous wrote:At our school it’s common to miss class for various school-sponsored things, from a few hours to many days for school related trips. Teachers are expected to be accommodating. I can’t think of any occasion where a student refused to participate in the event they elected to join.

Sounds like performing arts are not for him.

Your rationale is why American schools do not educate kids correctly.

Most other schools in the world expect students to prioritize academics. I know. I'm Asian (my cousins were all educated in my Asian country) who happened to be educated in western Europe: UK, France and Germany. None of these three countries pull kids out of academic classes for music or sports. My Asian country doesn't either.

Just because everyone else at that school is doing it wrong, doesn't mean OP's kid should too.

Anonymous wrote:As the teacher of that hard class, your son is making a mature, responsible choice.

I had 6 kids miss my class last week for a mid day band concert. They have now been behind all week and will struggle to catch up before Friday’s test.

I don’t know why performances have to be during the school day.

I can't imagine how missing one day of class for a school-related activity would cause someone to be this behind unless one or both teachers were being intentionally punitive.

At our school it’s common to miss class for various school-sponsored things, from a few hours to many days for school related trips. Teachers are expected to be accommodating. I can’t think of any occasion where a student refused to participate in the event they elected to join.

Sounds like performing arts are not for him.

As the teacher of that hard class, your son is making a mature, responsible choice.

I had 6 kids miss my class last week for a mid day band concert. They have now been behind all week and will struggle to catch up before Friday’s test.

I don’t know why performances have to be during the school day.

He's right.

I think your son is correct.

DS is a freshman (so first year doing high school band) and there is an in-school event that the school band is supposed to perform in during the school day. Apparently this is not a full-school event because my son would have to miss a class for the band event. That class is extremely difficult and missing just one class can be hard to recover from. My son told me he is planning to skip the band event and will instead go to class. I won't be there so there is really nothing I can do to stop him from making his own decision about this. And given all the emails I get from school about the importance of kids not missing school, I kind of agree with my son - why is the band making him miss an important class? Then again, my son did make a commitment to the band (although I do not recall that he was told that he would have to miss classes for band events). I am not sure what the question is since I am not the decision maker here. Just curious if others have dealt with this, I guess.