Although the best way to recover from sickness is by resting, Carlmont students are often found doing homework instead.
Due to strict teacher policies and a full work load, students are also coming to school when they are ill to make sure they can stay on track so they don’t have to try to make up accumulated missed work when they return.
Sophomore Cate Armstrong said, “The work backs up so much that I do what I can even though I should be resting. Some teachers are more lenient than others when making up work, which is really nice since it allows me to get the rest I need.”
AP Modern European History teacher Patricia Braunstein has a class rule in which a student can drop two unwanted quiz grades from their portal at the end of each semester.
However, if a student does not show up on a quiz day, it will result in an automatic zero, even if the absence is excused. According to Armstrong, many sick students arrive at school in order to take the quiz so that they are able to remove their worst quiz grade instead of zeros from missed quizzes.
Michael Skrable, a teacher in the math department, creates a harder test version every day that a student misses on.
“I only increase the difficulty level of the test if someone had been here to learn all of the material, because taking the test late gives that student more time to study,” said Skrable.
According to sophomore Heather Chao, many of her friends struggle with this policy. She believes it is unfair, and that another solution would be changing the questions so there is variety, but not making the difficulty level so much harder.
There are no rules restricting any teacher to have certain makeup work policies, as the administration believes that each teacher is a professional in their curriculum and can make the best decision for their particular classes.
According to UC Davis Student Health and Counseling Services, “Staying home not only allows your body to rest and aid in the recovery process, but it also allows you to keep your illness to yourself and prevent spreading germs to others.”