The Greenbrier County School district recently brought back semester final exams for all of the middle and high schools in the district. But, there’s a catch: If a student has seven or fewer absences for the semester and has an A, B, or C in a class, they will be exempt from that class’s exam. But is seven absences truly enough to meet the needs of some students?
This topic is controversial amongst the students and staff, especially here at Greenbrier East. I have yet to attend a full school day where this topic wasn’t raised and argued, usually between teachers and students. Almost every time the exams are mentioned, students are against the exams and the absence policy and think the number of absences should be raised. Teachers usually counter by saying that seven is a fair amount, or else they remain neutral to avoid administrative backlash.
Seven absences are definitely not enough. As a straight-A student who has a 4.3 GPA, why would I have to take a final exam if it’s clear that I understand the content to the point that there is no reason for it to be reviewed? I already have 3.5 absences because I had already purchased a $300 ticket for a Lana Del Rey concert way before the exam policy was announced, so I chose to miss 1.5 days to attend the concert. Later, I caught a virus at school that put me out for the other two days. What bothers me the most is the fact that my family planned a trip that would require me to miss the last four days of school before Christmas Break and I was to be allowed to bring a friend. But because of the attendance policy, we had to reschedule the trip for a weekend, which gives us less time to have fun and explore. Another issue I have with the attendance policy is that there is zero room for mental health days, which I take frequently because I am a strong believer that mental health should always come before school. Therefore, I think the policy should be changed to exempt students who have up to 12 days of absence. These extra days are needed to make room for the unexpected.
Senior Gypsy Tulloh had already racked up seven absences by the second month of school. “Seven days is a play on luck,” Tulloh said. “People have no control over if they get sick or not. I’ve already been sick three times and injured once. I just accepted I’d already met the quota and gave up, deciding to put my health first. It’s so depressing knowing that there are students who simply give up on staying [at or] under 7 absences because of uncontrollable illness.”
Junior Jasmine Stone expressed a strong opinion on the new policy. “Seven absences is a bad number for the finals requirement because many students suffer from uncontrollable illnesses throughout the school year, and it is impractical to assume all students will be able to attend school when sick,” Stone said.
I believe that teachers defend the policy for fear of getting in trouble. Kallie Cochran teaches theatre and English here at East. “My only comment,” she said, “is that seven is better than none.”
It is obvious to students that an eighth absence should not eliminate one’s exemption from an exam. Teachers have a point that if a student is not passing a class, then maybe it would be a good idea to take the final to boost their grade. Overall, however, this policy is affecting student’s mental health because they fear not only taking the exam, but also that their grade could plummet since the exam is worth 10% of the overall semester grade.
