Emma Li

“I’m sick.” How often have you heard this from a mask-clad classmate and wondered why they were at school? To many students, this isn’t a rare occurrence: in a recent poll with 176 student responses, 76.1% said they noticed or heard of sickness on campus at least once a week. 90.9% have personally caught an illness from others at school, with 81.3% sick multiple times this academic year. Out of these students, 88.7% said they attended school even while sick. 

95.1% of respondents cited schoolwork as their primary reason for going to school while sick. One student wrote on the form, “It’s unfortunate, but it’s the price we pay for productivity.” This mindset needs to change, as it harms both sick students and the broader community. 

However, student culture isn’t fully at fault for this unhealthy mindset. Policies regarding attendance compel students to attend school even when they’re not feeling their best: 53.3% of students said they were concerned about how taking days off would impact their attendance record. Per the Student Handbook, if a student misses more than five days in a semester for any reason besides a school-sponsored trip or activity (this includes being sick), they may lose credit for classes, which could hinder meeting graduation requirements. 

Moreover, students must attend 50% of their academic day to participate in after school programs such as athletics and performing arts. If a student is absent from a program due to illness, however, they are automatically excused, according to Laura Lang-Ree, Performing Arts Director, and Dan Molin, Athletic Director. After school programs show more leniency toward cases of illness, but the contradicting policies between these programs and academic classes only add to students’ stress and confusion when deciding whether to come to campus. 

The current attendance policies require more clarity and leniency so sick students can truly put their health first rather than dwell on specific guidelines. However, there also lies the inherent issue of our student culture: the mentality of constant productivity causes students to prioritize showing up to class no matter the cost. 

As students, we should rethink our attitude toward attending school while sick. Rather than possibly spreading an illness to others and causing even more stress and discomfort to ourselves by attending school, we should instead focus our efforts on communicating with our teachers and peers about what we’re worried about missing. 

Teachers can also help relieve this stress by releasing the day’s class plans or materials online. Having a Zoom option for classes would also allow sick students to tune in if they want the option to stay on top of classwork while keeping the classroom healthy and sickness-free.