Should schools stop handing out perfect attendance awards?

Question

All it does is encourages parents to send children to school sick! With agrees with me?

Answer 1

Yes! I completely agree! I am a teacher and I get at least two colds per year and the flu. School is not a day care. When students are sick, they will not be on par, they will spread it to other, including the educators. Research has shown that it is beneficial to stay home when sick. You recover faster and less likely hood of passing it around and having it come back to you. Keep your kids home when sick. A perfect attendance award is meaningless. Choose your child's health and the health of others over a piece of paper.

Answer 2

I think it's silly too plus it doesn't really mean anything..it's not a great accomplishment...it's pure luck if a child is never absent.

Answer 3

i dont think that a little slip of paper or a little prize makes or encourages parents to send there kids to school sick....it is ment as an encouragment for kids not to skip school

Answer 4

I agree, but not just because of children going to school sick. I think it puts way too much emphasis on that award and other important things in life can suffer.

For example, my friend's daughter wouldn't let her kids attend their grandfather's funeral because they wouldn't have received their perfect attendance awards! I'm sorry, but that funeral was much more important than a piece of paper!

Answer 5

No. Kids tend to pretend to be sick, and most parents succumb if their child has a mild headache.

Answer 6

tough view point. but heres mine, i only went to school when i knew it wasnt contagious but i had perfect attendance for 2-3 years running. all u get is a piece of paper!

Answer 7

I don't have a problem with it.  It encourages kids to go to school.  If my kids get it good if they don't thats fine too.  At least it keeps my kids from acting sick for no reason.

Answer 8

yes it;s crazy... it's not like the child wants to be sick etc...

I would rather they kept there sick child home!

Answer 9

I agree, but it does encourage kids to go to school when they really could go!  A lot of schools now have adopted, "excused absences" that do not count against the total number.  Excused absences include those that have a doctor's note.

Answer 10

They should ridicule the bludgers instead, using an aggregate score - poor marks:absences.

Answer 11

Schools shouldn't hand out those awards; it encourages parents to send in their sick children to school.

While you are on that subject, employers should stop that whole ridiculous perfect attendence awards which gets everyone in the office sick practically.

Answer 12

My daughter is not in school yet but why can't a teacher or school send a sick child home?  I thought they did.. hmm..

(a sniffly child NO, but a sick child YES... hmmm?)

I think it's great to award perfect attendance, it encourages the children to be there on time -every day.  

Although awarding Great Attendance would be an even better idea.

Only those students who have excused absenses under 3 per year would be awarded. or something like that.

Answer 13

actually I semi agree. I think that it surely stops parents from saying "oh my darling baby has a sniffle, better keep him hme"  but I think if a doc note is produced that it should still be concidered perfect

Answer 14

Coming from someone whose kid tries consistently to stay home from school, i think there should be some kind of award system for being there

Answer 15

The ones that send their kids to school sick are usually doing it because they have to work and have jobs that don't allow them to stay home with a sick kid.  That's been my experience.  Not to get an award at the end of the year.

Answer 16

completely agree! my son's school now gives "almost perfect" awards, as long as the absences are excused by illness they don't count against the kids.

Answer 17

I beg to differ.   I work in an inner city school and we have a really, really bad attendance record.  We actually have parents who don't bring the kids to school simple because "they didn't feel like it" (I've heard this from the mouths of the kids)

We give out perfect attendance awards to encourage students to come to school and learn.   Actually, the students who receive perfect attendance awards are the same kids who are excelling in academics.  The children who are doing poor are the ones that never come to school.

So, NO.    Any parent who thinks perfect attendance is such a high honor, is crazy.     Most good natured parents will keep their kids home, if they are sick.    I don't hear too many parents disappointed at the fact that their kid didn't get perfect attendance this marking period.   Most parents will agree that if their kids is sick, they're sick and should stay home.  

However,  what perfect attendance does is try to wake up other parents who aren't bring their kids to school for stupid reasons.  Things like, "mommy overslept" or "it was raining and mommy didn't feel like walking to our car in the rain"

Answer 18

No. I like the idea of striving for something. If you get sick you get sick. Stay home.

If you manage to survive the school year and not get sick over the weekend then good for you.

I had perfect attendance my senior year of high school. Wasn't sick and never skipped. It was nice to be recognized at my graduation as one of 10 out of 630 in my graduating class that achieved it.

Answer 19

lol

um hm thats a good one... i guess thats kind of true

but then if they dont, theyll just have a bunch of kids that are home chillin n not goina school bc they dont get anything out of it....i guess it depends all on the parent!

Answer 20

I agree with you some what, but most kids try to play sick and a good parent would send them knowing if it is fake,they need to be ready for the work force.

Answer 21

It's a nice idea in theory, but yeah I agree with you. I don't know if it necessarily encourages parents to send their sick children to school for the sake of an award though, I think that 9 times out of 10 the parents just don't want to have to stay home and care for the kid, especially if they have jobs they need to be at. Perfect attendance awards basically say that a child should be at school every day... I'd rather my kid stay home anytime than infect 30 other classmates with the flu!

Answer 22

Our schools don't participate in awarding children for perfect attendance, so we don't have to worry about that one.  But I'd imagine that there are parents out there who want the ultimate "prize" for their children because it gives them something to boast about.  I hate it when parents send their kids to school even though they're sick.  "They don't want to miss work!"  Oh Paleeeeeese!  If your kid was running a temperature the day before, they should keep them out of school until they are temp free for at least 24 hours!

Answer 23

It's no fair! We can't help if our kids get sick! It's just plain out wrong! Why should they have to feel bad because they were sick. And, really, should other kids get to brag because their parents send them to school just to get that award, or because they're healthy? NO!!!!

Answer 24

I totally agree with you.  I know of one student who had perfect attendance all through Catholic school. All the kids called her Typhoid Nelly because she would come to school dog sick and be sent home after 1 p.m. ( because her mother refused to pick her up earlier - 1 p.m. was the cuttoff for that day's attendance).    They should have called CPS on her parents, IMHO.

It is actually a fairly negative award because it places blame on children who are sick and kept home.