Why Are Some Kids Always Tardy or Absent?

[Annie]

I just saw this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/education/05reward.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th

And for Perfect Attendance, Johnny Gets... a Car

By PAM BELLUCK
Published: February 5, 2006

CHELSEA, Mass. — Attendance at Chelsea High School had hovered at a disappointing 90 percent for years, and school officials were determined to turn things around. So, last fall they decided to give students in this poverty-stung city just north of Boston a little extra motivation: students would get $25 for every quarter they had perfect attendance and another $25 if they managed perfect attendance all year.

Mike Culberson, a principal in Rossville, Ga., greets students near a table with rewards for good attendance.

"I was at first taken a little aback by the idea: we're going to pay kids to come to school?" said the principal, Morton Orlov II. "But then I thought perfect attendance is not such a bad behavior to reward. We are sort of putting our money where our mouth is..."

and it got me thinking, why is it always the same kids that are tardy and/or absent? For the most part, they are also amongst the poorest performing students, so which came first?

High school is more than a bit different, the parents have much less control over the student's choice to get there or not, but in elementary school the behavior is apparent.

It amazes me the number of parents that will pull their kids out of school to go on vacation. I could understand if they were going to travel to an area that might be 'a once in a lifetime educational experience,' such as seeing the Egyptian or Aztec ruins; a tour of Europe; something like that. We're talking though, a Disney Cruise, or Puerta Vallarta, not something that couldn't be had during the nearly 3 months in the summer, 2+ weeks at Christmas, or week in the Spring.

 

[liberalogic]

I just saw this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/education/05reward.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th



and it got me thinking, why is it always the same kids that are tardy and/or absent? For the most part, they are also amongst the poorest performing students, so which came first?

High school is more than a bit different, the parents have much less control over the student's choice to get there or not, but in elementary school the behavior is apparent.

It amazes me the number of parents that will pull their kids out of school to go on vacation. I could understand if they were going to travel to an area that might be 'a once in a lifetime educational experience,' such as seeing the Egyptian or Aztec ruins; a tour of Europe; something like that. We're talking though, a Disney Cruise, or Puerta Vallarta, not something that couldn't be had during the nearly 3 months in the summer, 2+ weeks at Christmas, or week in the Spring.

I agree with you...parents can be very irresponsible when it comes to getting their kids to school.

Though that article scared me a bit. Education should be the gift in and of itself, not the monetary reward that comes with it at this school.

 

[Nienna]

I agree with you...parents can be very irresponsible when it comes to getting their kids to school.

Though that article scared me a bit. Education should be the gift in and of itself, not the monetary reward that comes with it at this school.

Amen! I think a big part of the problem in our entire culture, highlighted here in schools, is the lack of personal responsibility. We live in a nation where everyone can obtain an education. This is an incredible privelege. The same kids who need to be paid to even show up will be the same kids who refuse to take advantage of the education even if they're there, simply bc they feel it is another's responsiblity to motivate them to improve themselves.

 

[Unkotare]

I just saw this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/education/05reward.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th

And for Perfect Attendance, Johnny Gets... a Car

By PAM BELLUCK
Published: February 5, 2006

CHELSEA, Mass. — Attendance at Chelsea High School had hovered at a disappointing 90 percent for years, and school officials were determined to turn things around. So, last fall they decided to give students in this poverty-stung city just north of Boston a little extra motivation: students would get $25 for every quarter they had perfect attendance and another $25 if they managed perfect attendance all year.

Mike Culberson, a principal in Rossville, Ga., greets students near a table with rewards for good attendance.

"I was at first taken a little aback by the idea: we're going to pay kids to come to school?" said the principal, Morton Orlov II. "But then I thought perfect attendance is not such a bad behavior to reward. We are sort of putting our money where our mouth is..."

and it got me thinking, why is it always the same kids that are tardy and/or absent? For the most part, they are also amongst the poorest performing students, so which came first?

High school is more than a bit different, the parents have much less control over the student's choice to get there or not, but in elementary school the behavior is apparent.

It amazes me the number of parents that will pull their kids out of school to go on vacation. I could understand if they were going to travel to an area that might be 'a once in a lifetime educational experience,' such as seeing the Egyptian or Aztec ruins; a tour of Europe; something like that. We're talking though, a Disney Cruise, or Puerta Vallarta, not something that couldn't be had during the nearly 3 months in the summer, 2+ weeks at Christmas, or week in the Spring.

Parents are not pulling their kids out of school in Chelsea for a Disney Cruise. Kids in Chelsea are absent or tardy because:

A) They don't give a shit

B) They don't give a shit

C) They work full time, on night shifts or early shifts that overlap the start of school
(When a kid needs to raise $1500 + to make rent and utilities each month, $25 isn't that big a carrot)

D) They are timing their commute to avoid one of several vicious street gangs whose territories they have to traverse to get to school

This ridiculous plan was abandoned before the ink was dry on the story.

 

[DGS49]

This may not be terribly relevant, but when I was in law school they had a simple policy for weather-related closures: There ain't any. Even if the rest of the university closes, the law school will hold classes. Even if the electricity goes out, the law school will hold classes. Even if the professor dies, the law school will still hold classes. Don't bother to call and ask. Classes will not be cancelled.

I went there (night school) for four years and guess what? Class was never cancelled.

If absences are never excused, and grades suffer, people might be less inclined to pull their kids out for vacation.

Treat education - even public school education - as a privilege, and maybe people will start to think of it as a privilege.

 

[Nia88]

I am a teacher and in my experience it is mainly due to parents not taking school seriously enough. I have kids that are late every morning. I taught 2nd grade this past year so of course students rely on their parents to take them to school.

The school would send them letters about the lateness but the parents still bring their kids late to school.

Unfortunately some people do not understand the importance of children coming to school on time and attending school regularly.

I had one student who was extremely bright but he was absent a lot which really affected his grades because he missed lessons. He wasn't a sickly child but his mom didn't see the point of sending him to school everyday.

 

[depotoo]

Canuyou imagine when they get a job? They would be a nightmare.

I agree with you...parents can be very irresponsible when it comes to getting their kids to school.

Though that article scared me a bit. Education should be the gift in and of itself, not the monetary reward that comes with it at this school.

Amen! I think a big part of the problem in our entire culture, highlighted here in schools, is the lack of personal responsibility. We live in a nation where everyone can obtain an education. This is an incredible privelege. The same kids who need to be paid to even show up will be the same kids who refuse to take advantage of the education even if they're there, simply bc they feel it is another's responsiblity to motivate them to improve themselves.

 

[yiostheoy]

I just saw this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/education/05reward.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th

And for Perfect Attendance, Johnny Gets... a Car

By PAM BELLUCK
Published: February 5, 2006

CHELSEA, Mass. — Attendance at Chelsea High School had hovered at a disappointing 90 percent for years, and school officials were determined to turn things around. So, last fall they decided to give students in this poverty-stung city just north of Boston a little extra motivation: students would get $25 for every quarter they had perfect attendance and another $25 if they managed perfect attendance all year.

Mike Culberson, a principal in Rossville, Ga., greets students near a table with rewards for good attendance.

"I was at first taken a little aback by the idea: we're going to pay kids to come to school?" said the principal, Morton Orlov II. "But then I thought perfect attendance is not such a bad behavior to reward. We are sort of putting our money where our mouth is..."

and it got me thinking, why is it always the same kids that are tardy and/or absent? For the most part, they are also amongst the poorest performing students, so which came first?

High school is more than a bit different, the parents have much less control over the student's choice to get there or not, but in elementary school the behavior is apparent.

It amazes me the number of parents that will pull their kids out of school to go on vacation. I could understand if they were going to travel to an area that might be 'a once in a lifetime educational experience,' such as seeing the Egyptian or Aztec ruins; a tour of Europe; something like that. We're talking though, a Disney Cruise, or Puerta Vallarta, not something that couldn't be had during the nearly 3 months in the summer, 2+ weeks at Christmas, or week in the Spring.

Hard to say which came first.

They may have started out with learning disabilities.

Or they may have started out with nonsupportive parents.

Or they may have gotten behind and cannot catch up anymore.

Schooling is the most important thing that kids get or do. It's too bad they don't all take it seriously.

 

[Conservative65]

Canuyou imagine when they get a job? They would be a nightmare.

I agree with you...parents can be very irresponsible when it comes to getting their kids to school.

Though that article scared me a bit. Education should be the gift in and of itself, not the monetary reward that comes with it at this school.

Amen! I think a big part of the problem in our entire culture, highlighted here in schools, is the lack of personal responsibility. We live in a nation where everyone can obtain an education. This is an incredible privelege. The same kids who need to be paid to even show up will be the same kids who refuse to take advantage of the education even if they're there, simply bc they feel it is another's responsiblity to motivate them to improve themselves.

Working for me, they're a nightmare only twice. Once to be told not to be late again. Second time being told if they're late again, they're going. Third time, end of nightmare.

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

I began working at age 10 at as a dishwasher at night. I had to stand on a milk crate to reach the bottom of the sink. They payed my mother cash so it wasn't on the books. She needed the money for rent because she was going to school. I learned a good work ethic at a young age and put my all into it. But not at school. I went to school during the day but I slept during class a good deal. I didn't do well in school and I never could get past general math. I continued to work at night and go to school during the day but later on I started to skip school. My grades were terrible. I dropped out of school when I was young. Later I got my G.E.D.. If I had it to do over again I would have tried harder. I didn't see the importance of it back then.

 

[mgh80]

You can't learn the material if you're not in the classroom. If you miss a lot of times, honestly your teacher can't stop the class to get you caught up for weeks and weeks of work-it'll hinder the other 20+ kids in the classroom. I can't sacrifice the education of 20+ kids because of one-especially when that one kid's in the situation they're in due to choices they made in the first place. It might sound cruel-but personally I cut those kids out...unless they're willing to put in the work and come before school/after school/during lunch...unfortunately if a kid wont come to school at all they definitely wont come before/after.

It was hard for me to accept the concept of sacrificing a kid's education for the better of the rest...until I realized it was THEIR choices that lead to it, not mine-and in life we need to be held accountable for our actions. It's an easy pill for me to swallow now.

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

You can't learn the material if you're not in the classroom. If you miss a lot of times, honestly your teacher can't stop the class to get you caught up for weeks and weeks of work-it'll hinder the other 20+ kids in the classroom. I can't sacrifice the education of 20+ kids because of one-especially when that one kid's in the situation they're in due to choices they made in the first place. It might sound cruel-but personally I cut those kids out...unless they're willing to put in the work and come before school/after school/during lunch...unfortunately if a kid wont come to school at all they definitely wont come before/after.

It looks like you have two choices. You can find another job where you have no contact with children or you can go to the Lord and tell Him that you know you have a wicked heart, that you cannot change on your own and that you need His help. Jesus Christ will give you a new heart and a new life in Him. Here is a sermon I posted recently that might help you.

The Wicked Heart Set to do Evil

I will keep you in my prayers, mgh80. What I pick up in my spirit about you is that you have a spirit of bitterness. Jesus Christ can deliver you from it but you have to be willing to forgive whoever it is that has you bound up like this. Otherwise you'll continue to take it out on everyone else around you. Bottom line here - you need the Lord.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Shitty parenting

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

There are many bad parents in the world, Taz. This we know. Which is why the safety net for such children should be their teachers, school counselors, coaches........anyone with a heart of compassion. That is what they need.

 

[Wyatt earp]

Damn I thought Annie was back, I missed her.

 

[mgh80]

There are many bad parents in the world, Taz. This we know. Which is why the safety net for such children should be their teachers, school counselors, coaches........anyone with a heart of compassion. That is what they need.

A teacher's job is to prepare their students for life. If teachers teach students that it's ok to be tardy, it's ok to not do your work and still pass, it's ok to miss deadlines, that everything will be ok because people care about them...those students leave school and are hit with reality-and many of them never accept the reality of the world. The world is a harsh and unforgiving place. Classrooms should be like that, however we can't reach complacency either.

 

[mgh80]

You can't learn the material if you're not in the classroom. If you miss a lot of times, honestly your teacher can't stop the class to get you caught up for weeks and weeks of work-it'll hinder the other 20+ kids in the classroom. I can't sacrifice the education of 20+ kids because of one-especially when that one kid's in the situation they're in due to choices they made in the first place. It might sound cruel-but personally I cut those kids out...unless they're willing to put in the work and come before school/after school/during lunch...unfortunately if a kid wont come to school at all they definitely wont come before/after.

It looks like you have two choices. You can find another job where you have no contact with children or you can go to the Lord and tell Him that you know you have a wicked heart, that you cannot change on your own and that you need His help. Jesus Christ will give you a new heart and a new life in Him. Here is a sermon I posted recently that might help you.

The Wicked Heart Set to do Evil

I will keep you in my prayers, mgh80. What I pick up in my spirit about you is that you have a spirit of bitterness. Jesus Christ can deliver you from it but you have to be willing to forgive whoever it is that has you bound up like this. Otherwise you'll continue to take it out on everyone else around you. Bottom line here - you need the Lord.

I appreciate your concern, however tell that to the student who came to the school (they graduated last year) and thanked me for spending countless hours after school (which I didn't have to do and didn't get pod for)...and all of that work for them a scholarship and into the school they want. That student fave me a big hug and was in tears-it was absolutely heartwarming to realize I can guide students to where they need to go.

yoi can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink. My students sre 17-18 years old...if they want to fail there's nothing I can do to stop them...I can attempt to (and I do)...but when focusing on them hinders the students who want to graduate and want to be successful in life-I have to prioritize.


My students aren't the sweet little cuddly kids you might be picturing, and many of them are far from innocent (I've had kids arrested for attempted murder before-literally).