T’was the Sunday before a math test, in my sophomore year,
Fever-stricken in my bed, my brain felt dead.
Out I pulled my laptop, opening my inbox…
To four Canvas notifications, all titled: “If you missed class on Friday….”
Reluctantly, I sent a kindly-worded email to my teacher asking for a homework extension and a time for a makeup test the following week. In response, my teacher was equally kind (to my relief), urging me to get well soon and to worry about the test later.
The day of my makeup test, still in post-sickness recovery mode, I was strangely greeted with the sight of five other students lined up along the side of the room ready to take the exam with me. My teacher already seemed visibly more annoyed.
When I received the heavy packet that was my exam, I spent the first minute skimming through it to calculate how to spread my efforts in the 70-minute time limit. I was flabbergasted to find at least seven full-page problems and eight more word problems, not to mention a two-page graphing calculator section.
A few weeks later, the test was graded. To my horror, my grade dropped five percent. My score is abysmal, but across the board, nobody got above an 80 on the makeup exam — compared to regular tests having an average score of 80.
The aforementioned story was the only instance of me having to take a harder test after being sick or missing school for a field trip, and yet it has left me with lasting traumatic memories. Frivolously skipping school makes it substantially more difficult for students with legitimate sicknesses to catch up; some teachers, in an effort to disincentivize skipping, make both tests and assignments harder.
Skipping school has other repercussions outside of just missing tests, though.
For students who aren’t proactive, skipping school opens one up to a flurry of work to catch up on once you’re back at school. The next two tutorials after an absence frequently get taken up by meetings with teachers and groupmates to figure out what was missed. An activity like a Socratic Seminar can be impossible to replicate outside of the classroom. All the while, it’s easy to drown in pending assignments, and it’s difficult to find time to catch up.
In essence, even a single absence can trigger a domino effect of late assignments. Though I didn’t struggle with any more difficult tasks, missing just one day of school made it impossible for me to find time to make up the one homework assignment that I missed. I often end up using a flurry of late passes after every absence — by the end of last year, I was left with only one of the dozen I was originally provided with.
Skipping school also opens one up to the possibility of missing critical information not posted on Canvas or other makeup instructions. Missed information about how to construct an English essay’s introductory paragraph, for instance, can result in lost points in the major assignments category when you reach your final draft.
On the whole, it’s usually a bad idea to skip a class to study for a singular test when you consider the consequences of missing key information in class. After all, even a 2% grade impact on one’s other six classes is ultimately cumulative.
While time management after missing school is difficult for busy students, absences also make teachers’ lives much harder. They have to coordinate with dozens of students to make up missed tests and grade late assignments. For many assignments, a teacher has to do twice the work — so contacting them proactively before an expected absence can lighten the load.
Personally, even though absences from class trips, debate tournaments and sicknesses still weigh down my attendance record, I’ve made a concerted effort to plan what I’m missing in advance, frontloading most of my work ahead of time. Regardless of the reason, skipping school creates a flurry of issues for everyone: teachers, students who are legitimately sick and more importantly yourself.
While trends have changed, school absence policy has largely remained the same. Everyone has their own reasons for missing school, but continuously or frivolously being absent can be impossible to bounce back from, only driving students into a deeper academic hole.
In a school where the push to do well in school and maintain a strong academic record is overwhelming, keeping your moral compass steady and staying true to your classes is essential — even when you aren’t feeling confident going into a test in another class. Nevertheless, good luck on your upcoming finals, and to all: Stay healthy.
