THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 8, 1995 TAG: 9509080055
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Teenology Column
SOURCE: Jennifer Dziura
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
BACK SOMEWHERE IN the deep void of the 1980s was a movie called ``Summer School.'' The movie featured a young man who, on the first day of summer school, asked for a bathroom pass and subsequently headed toward the men's room. He returned, pass in hand, the day of the final exam. His exam grade was the highest in the class.
Even independently of the deep void of the '80s, this sort of thing can and does happen. But, alas, head educational honchos everywhere seem to have come to the conclusion that leading a horse to water is the same as making him drink. On that note, attendance policies are tightening.
In Virginia Beach, the school board had instituted a citywide policy wherein missing class 12 times for any reason merits a failing grade. While there is a waiver process, students are still concerned. That's because overall, no distinction is made between ``excused'' and ``unexcused'' absences. In fact, missing class for any of the following reasons in Virginia Beach is one perilous step toward a plunging grade-point average:
Exceptional educational pursuits, like participating in the finals of the national geography or spelling bees.
Death in one's immediate family.
Non-Christian religious holidays.
Being hit by a cement truck through no fault of one's own.
Extracurricular activities of any
sort requiring trips, even those that are blatantly academic.
Having some horrible disease (many possibilities here) that could in no way be one's own fault.
It's obvious from the most cursory observation of such bureaucratically unforgiving attendance policies that the authors draw absolutely no distinction among (a) going to a debate tournament or band competition and (b) staying at home to abuse illegal substances, making prank phone calls to the elderly and kicking the cat around. One would think that school board members, of all people, would care which of these we were doing.
Here's something else for your cerebrum to chew on: Sometimes, multiple problems just scream to be allowed to fix each other. O. Henry once wrote a story about a very poor woman in an apartment building who had only some beef to eat, but she met another woman in the hallway who was scrubbing two potatoes, which were all the food she had. The two combined ingredients, then spied a man walking down the stairs with a single onion. The group made stew and everything worked out just fine.
Similarly, area school systems have two alleged problems:
1. Absenteeism.
2. Overcrowding.
Just think this out a bit. New schools are being built locally about as often as the average American family orders pizza. This is because there are too many students in the existing schools. The logical solution is not to pass measure designed to put more people in schools, especially those who, for whatever reason, don't want to be there. Also, causing more people to fail classes just further congests things by increasing the number of years students spend in school.
If space and resources are scarce because of overcrowding, the best solution would simply be to keep attendance requirements minimal, permitting geniuses and prodigies to stay home and play with their computers and telescopes, and allowing delinquents to stay out of the way of those who have some interest in becoming reasonably well-educated.
Summarily mandatory attendance for drug addicts and the Academic Challenge Bowl team alike is a policy akin to leading a horse to water and beating him with a stick. As solutions go, this isn't much of one. MEMO: Note: The Virginia Beach School Board will discuss the attendance policy
at its Sept. 19 meeting. Students can write to their board member or
sign up to speak at the meeting.
Jennifer Dziura is a senior at Cox High School. Her column appears
bimonthly. If you'd like to comment on her column, call INFOLINE at
640-5555 and enter category 6778 or write to her at 4565 Virginia Beach
Blvd., Virginia Beach, Va. 23462
by CNB