Show up, sit down and learn

by Aja Landolfi, editor in chief

With the 2014-2015 school year coming to an end many students can’t wait for summer vacation. However, some students are left wondering if they have enough seat time (attendance) to be considered on track to graduation.

According to the New York Department of Education (NYCDOE), students are required to have a 90% attendance rate. This means that students who miss 20 day of school or more in one school year might not have enough time to graduate. The NYCDOE also state that students who miss more time than their peers score lower on standardized tests.

Many students don’t enjoy coming to school on a daily basis. Between waking up early, traveling, and then spending a grueling six and a half hours in a dirty school building isn’t a way that many kids would like to spend their time. This problem leads to students deciding to stay home because they are “sick” or simply “don’t feel like going.”

Attendance should play a bigger factor in students education. If a student rarely shows up to class, they don’t learn the material needed to help them pass their tests. This in turn affects them later on in life. When students go on to college they won’t know the basic material and will have a harder time learning the new material.

“I think it is important because, in order to learn something and progress, then you have to be in school, or else what’s the point? It [attendance] should be a factor in education because in order to get and education you have to be in school, and the less days you miss the better, because it means that colleges will look at your attendance, and see that you can be trusted on coming everyday and not just ditching,” freshman Ivana Pitino said.

By waking up early for school everyday it prepares students for when they get older and have to wake up early to go to work. It also teaches students responsibility for staying on top of their school work and to not miss too many days so they don’t fall behind on work.

“When you get to senior year if you don’t have a 90% attendance rate or better you will not walk the stage at graduation,” principal Ms. Schneider said.

Attendance should play a bigger role in education than it does now. Attendance should determine if one can move on the the next grade or not. If a student misses too much school they aren’t prepared for the next steps and that’s scary. It will effect how one works in the future. It would be like going into a doctor’s office and the doctor having no knowledge on how to actually be a doctor.

“I think [attendance] is very important because you can’t learn if you’re not [in school],” junior Alyssa Striano said.

Most students would disagree with this and believe that attendance should be more relaxed. They would say that attendance doesn’t matter or that they could sit after school or on the weekend for attendance recovery. Even though one could sit to earn enough seat time, again they aren’t in the classroom and therefore have a huge disadvantage on the education they are receiving.

At the end of the day, attendance should decide whether or not you can go on to the next grade, and if a senior is prepared enough to graduate or not.