Way back yonder when I started, in the pioneer days of 1984, we used to fail kids for not showing up. There was a number--I don't remember what--but, say, you're absent 5 times in a marking period, or 10 in a semester, you fail. There was a code grade of 41 to indicate this.
Then, someone at the Board of Ed. got the notion that code grades were bad, so they were strictly prohibited. Later on, another New York City educational genius determined it was not fair to fail kids simply because their busy social lives precluded attending school.
Now, you can't fail a kid for not showing up. However, not showing up has the unfortunate effect of making kids do no work whatsoever, and kids who don't take tests are highly unlikely to pass them. So now, we're required to comment "lack of class participation" in addition to "excessive absence." You simply can't fail a kid for excessive absence. That's not fair.
So what I want to know if why do I have to keep coming in? Shouldn't they pay me even if I don't feel like coming to work? Why should I be penalized simply because I have priorities which make showing up inconvenient? It's not fair.
Actually, I do show up. I plan to continue doing so. My kid better do so as well, and so should the kids in my classes (once classes start again).
It's patently ridiculous to pretend that showing up is anything other than necessary. Let's fail kids who can't be bothered, let's tell them and their parents why we do so, and let's end this idiotic beating around the bushes about it.
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