ann m

It works both ways here. We've had quite a random response to Daughter Number One's high school absences. She has missed many days in the last two years for legitimate but varying medical reasons. Some weeks, everyone seemed on board and knew what was going on. Other weeks we would get random automated voicemails reporting "that a student in your household, named........ was absent for lesson 5" - even if she had been there the whole day, or had missed the whole day.

She quit out of band one October (concussion, too loud, etc) and they didn't seem to notice until March.

My frustration at staff grew daily. Left hand, right hand. I knew on each day where my daughter was and why, and communicated regularly. The school were wooly at best - and if I had not known her location, lord help me if I HAD wanted them to report an absence. No bloody consistency.

Daughter Number Two starts there in September and they love to brag about how much of a caring community they are. Experience prompts me to beg to differ. And when a parent is in the principals office in tears on more than one occasion, a courtesy follow up call with a "how's it going?" would have been appreciated.

My daughter has not had a great time at high school so far, and I've enjoyed it even less. Here's hoping for a good grade 11 and grade 9 for my two. And when they take a couple of days off next spring for competitions, I won't be asking anyone, I will call in the morning to say they won't be in.

Rant over.

Gozit

This happens to me all the time. I've gotten home some days and my mum is fuming "why were you out of x period today!!!" and me giving her a garbled look like "Damn well I wasn't!" ...
I can sympathise. The last year was terrible for me, though no one around me can possibly even begin to comprehend that there just might be a flaw in the school system - because why would there be anything wrong with something that provides "wholesome education" for children?



That's the spirit now. Can anyone tell me if having to go into Toronto to apply for, and then another separate trip to receive, my passport, is a valid excuse to miss school? Although I don't really care, i'm getting my passport either way

Shard

It doesn't need to change the teaching plan, and I am sure in practice does not. The teacher teaches, the students learn what they are around for. There are so many other factors underpinning good educational development. Quality of teaching, reliability of a teacher showing up, pupil interpersonal issues, home life, etc, etc, that to get paranoid about responsible parent's taking their child out of school for a week or two is unnecessary.

kimilseung

These are not really the problem, they would see that kids make up work, do work while on vacation. Its the irresponsible ones, that lead to rules being applied to all.

Gozit

Exactly. Shard. Now while you lot are going on about how the kid has a "lost opportunity" by missing school whilst on vacation (which is ridiculous IMO, you learn a lot more from traveling than you do sitting in a dumb classroom all day memorising things for the purpose of passing the next test, after which you will forget all of the useless things you were forced to memorise) , what about the kid who flat out refuses to do anything but what he/she needs to do to pass the classes at a minimum level and get on with life? Is that a lost opportunity? Is that a waste of the teachers time, what is it?

IMO the kids who care about school will keep up whilst away or catch up when back and it won't change their marks, and the kids who don't give a flying **** about school won't keep up and it won't affect their marks either because all they are doing is what they need to in order to pass the class. So therefore why make a big deal about taking the kid out of school?

kimilseung

Absolutely, no bigger, bigger-upper than travels educational value than me, but for many its sitting around a beach not travel.

Gozit

All true FWIW, all the things I have learned about Malta I learned mainly when visiting, the rest through sites like BE and the internet in general. Mind you, I didn't spend the whole time sitting on the beach, a good chunk though

I recently got back from a travel for credit trip, which took me to Ottawa, Montreal, and New York. It was great and obviously much more educational than doing the course (Civics and Careers) in class. What we did for assignments actually pertained to real life situations that we could model whilst on our trip. It was great, I really liked it

Shard

Yes. And echoing what Gozit has just said, this makes this kind of blanket truancy policy particularly ineffective and unfair.