At Putnam City North, parent excused absences are being limited to just three per semester. Of course, it’s possible to take more days off, but not if you want to be exempt from a final exam. If you’d like to be exempt and you’ve got everything else going for you, but you’ve got more than three absences, there’s no more hope. Tell me in what world does this seem helpful?

In a world of Covid and increasing difficulty in coordination with stress as schools tighten up their regulations, imagine you get sick? Suddenly, you’re not able to go to school for multiple days. Tests are not always available for students, nor are doctor appointments. Soon enough, you’re gone for three days or more, and you no longer can be exempt. For this reason, students attend school even when it’s inconvenient to them.

To cite a personal event, when I was sick with Covid, it was during the height of the Omicron variant. I was not able to get a test taken until nearing the end of the week, resulting in absences that were parent excused. I’ll schedule my doctor appointments after school too, disregarding how far the date of the appointment is and how urgently I need to be seen. This makes it awfully hard for me and other students to take care of themselves. School becomes detrimental to our health as teenagers and young adults, and we’re taught lessons that limit our self-care.

Final exams can ruin a grade just as much as it can help it, and school is a place in which education happens. Students should not be afraid of failing in a place where failing is supposed to be the first step of learning. When parent excused absences are so limited during a time in which there is still a pandemic, people will complain. The stress on students will pile up, but they may not be able to leave or take a break. Grades may drop even more because a student had to use more than the available amount of parent excused absences and are forced to take their exams in classes in which they may be holding on by a thread. The limit of parent excused absences during the 2021-2022 school year proved just fine; Students were given ten possible days. The other rules — like the tardy limit — in addition to such a limited amount of parent excused is unfair to students.

There are 18 weeks in a semester and the expectation of three or less absences is just insane! The regulation is inconsiderate to students, their well-being, situations, and self-care, and it’s time we really think about the things we expect out of students. Oftentimes, our expectations far exceed the amount a student can actually commit too, and it’s ruining their health. This is a world of education, and people don’t learn from being punished for small things.