With the workload ramping up and becoming more rigorous, missing a day of school can lead to an academic downfall for students that is difficult to recover from. Many students and teachers are experiencing different sicknesses that make it hard for them to get up in the morning and engage in studious tasks.
We have all heard the phrase, “If you are sick, then why are you at school?” The answer is simple: missing one day of school can cause a student to become behind in their schoolwork, and catching up makes them wonder if they are receiving the support they need.
The coughs and sneezes spread around the community but attendance is only slightly in decline, meaning students are attending school while sick due to the fear of falling behind.
Sophomore Donovan Bantique shared his thoughts on being sick and going to school. He stated, “If I stay home because I am sick, I later regret it because it is hard to come back from that. It depends on how sick I am, but it also depends on the teacher and if they have ways of getting me back on track. If the teacher can get me back on track, then I will stay home. But, if the teacher neglects the fact that I am missing work due to illness, I will definitely come to school sick.”
Bantique’s opinions on coming to school sick are very common throughout the Campo community. Since Bantique wants to stay on top of his schoolwork and knows that some teachers are more strict when it comes to homework and classwork, he feels like coming to school sick would be worth it as long as he is maintaining a good academic plan for himself.
“I have still been coming to school even though I am sick because I don’t want to fall behind and it will be really hard to make up the work,” sophomore Demitri Drury stated. Drury’s thoughts are very similar to Bantique’s. He has still been attending school even though he is sick because he is “worried about not understanding what is being taught at school” if he is not there, and he feels that “it is really hard to come back from that”.
Sophomore Liv Maestre, shared her thoughts about missing school and academy. Maestre said, “I am coming to school even though I am sick because if I go to some teachers academies, they won’t help me even if I had fallen behind.” Staying home from school means missing many classes, tests, and assignments.
While most students try to use academy time to make up work, many feel that academies can only do so much when trying to get back on track. Maestre’s comments may make some students relate to her feelings. Depending on the class, students may feel that some teachers may not be able to help a student that has fallen behind.
Government/Economics and AP Comparative Government teacher Dino Petrocco spoke about students coming to school sick and how that can be a not great decision, but he also sympathizes why students may do it. He stated, “I always prefer students to stay home if they are not well because that makes everyone else sick so selfishly, stay home, but I certainly understand the fear of missing school.” Petrocco understands why students will come to school even if they are sick because missing school “might create some anxiety for students.”
Petrocco also talked about Academy and how that may work for students who have fallen behind. He said, “Academy can be an effective place for those students to get caught up, but the problem is I think that we are overly dependent upon academy because if a student missed my class, that means that they have missed other classes which means that they have to see a lot of other teachers to get caught up. In the meantime, they are learning new material. I think there are lots of options to get students caught up so we can support them, and Academy is one of them.” Mr. Petrocco’s thoughts on Academy are similar to the students’ thoughts on falling behind and how Academy may not help them.
Being sick and attending school may be difficult, but many students find it to be a longer process if they have to spend hours making up missed work and trying to understand new concepts while also trying to get help from teachers in Academy.
