<p>Seriously! Some kids have health problems. Others just need mental health days from time to time. Sometimes the parents have to take the kids out of school for a trip (including college visits). Perfect attendance at school is nothing to hand out awards for. </p>
<p>On the other hand, I agree with zoosermom that kids need to earn their parents’ trust on this issue. Most kids know how to pull off the “fake sick”…and some use it more than others.</p>
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<p>Not saying I don’t believe in mental health days. </p>
<p>Am just saying from what I’ve observed from past employers and older relatives who do hiring, it’s something that’s best left unmentioned when it comes to interviews or when asking for a day off from school/work unless those in charge also believe in mental health days. </p>
<p>In the OP’s case, I’d give any excuse other than doing so for purposes of “studying for APs” or “mental health days”. Neither of those were acceptable when I was in HS and would be regarded as “unexcused absences”.</p>
<p>I hire. Days off is generally not a topic of interviews. That comes in the negotiation or job offer phase.</p>
<p>As far as high school, every school has its own rules which must be followed.</p>
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<p>Or to be worked around prudently. :D</p>
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<p>Well, times have changed. There is a lot more awareness these days of the importance of attending to mental health.</p>
<p>I agree. ^^^^ And I’m guessing that’s why so many movies are watched this time a year. The teachers and admin also know the kids need some downtime.</p>
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<p>That wasn’t a common practice at my HS when I attended and there’d be hell to pay from parents and a few older alums if this practice became widespread when I attended. </p>
<p>Most such parents*/those older alums regarded such practices as signs academic standards have gone to the crapper…whether justified or not. </p>
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<li>And many such parents weren’t all necessarily Asian/Asian-American “Tiger parents” as per popular stereotype. Quite a few of them were Jewish, Italian-American, Black, and Hispanic as well.</li>
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<p>this is laughable</p>
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<p>This is unrelated to anything in this thread. And I have never heard someone asking about school absences in a job interview.</p>
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<p>do you understand that when kids don’t come to school during AP exams, that they are NOT MISSING CLASS. THEY ARE MISSING MOVIE WATCHING AND/OR FREE TIME.</p>
<p>cobrat, </p>
<p>your HS graduates must accomplish little in life to be so concerned with kids that they don’t even know taking a day or two off from school.</p>
<p>Maybe you all peaked in high school and you want to re-live your perceived greatness and superiority, but most people aren’t like that.</p>
<p>cobrat, your HS sounds like something of a grind. I’m glad my kids’ school knows that educating the whole child means taking care of their emotional health as well as their academic needs.</p>
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<p>While there’s a little bit of excessive academic elitism involved, there’s also an underlying fear that any letup in academic standards/rigor would mean our HS will end up like many regular NYC high schools where academic standards/rigor have declined since the 1960’s due to neglect, LCD teaching mentality, social promotion, criticism/pressures against old-school teachers with high academic standards because “it may hurt feelings of the less academically capable/slackers”, etc. </p>
<p>CCNY/CUNY’s precipitous decline of its academic reputation after 1969 as a result of suddenly changing from highly selective admission on academic merit to open enrollment for any NYC public HS graduate and actions by some loopy educational activists/politicians* to attempt to eliminate the NYC public magnet high schools also added to such fears.</p>
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<li>I.e. Mayor Lindsay whose name is considered a curseword among some older alums from that era.</li>
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<p>A “little bit”? Really, a “little bit”? Cobrat, your descriptions of your high school class, if accurate, portray a very ugly underbelly of the Northeast culture. Many of your classmates sound like complete elitist boors and I suspect and hope they are not an accurate portrayal of the “typical” New Yorker. I suspect they are not.</p>
<p>Oh.my.God. I can’t believe some of the sanctimonious attitudes here. FWIW, neither of my kids took any time off to study for APs. Actually, outside of their regular classwork, they didn’t study for their APs at all. BUT, I would have let them do so in a heartbeat if they wanted to. Most of the kids we are talking about here have multiple APs, stellar grades, high SAT scores and demanding EC schedules. You think they can handle all of that, but can’t be trusted to make their own decision about how to spend a school day or two? With only a few weeks until they leave for college? Sheesh.</p>
<p>That Ferris Bueller-he would be crucified on CC tonight. </p>
<p>Ed Rooney: I don’t trust this kid any further than I can throw him.
School Secretary: Well, with your bad knee, Ed, you shouldn’t throw anybody. It’s true.
Ed Rooney: What is so dangerous about a character like Ferris Bueller is he gives good kids bad ideas. Last thing I need at this point in my career is 1,500 Ferris Bueller disciples running around these halls. He jeopardizes my ability to effectively govern this student body.
School Secretary: He makes you look like an ass, is what he does, Ed.
Ed Rooney: Thank you, Grace, but I think you’re wrong.
School Secretary: Oh, he’s very popular, Ed. The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wasteoids, dweebies, dickheads, they all adore him. They think he’s a righteous dude.
Ed Rooney: That is why I need to show these kids that the example he sets is a first-class ticket to nowhere!
School Secretary: Oh, Ed, you sounded like Dirty Harry just then.
Ed Rooney: Really? Thanks, Grace.</p>
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<p>Somehow, I’d doubt he’d be interested in taking AP courses/exams…much less staying home for the purpose of studying for them. He has much better things to do with his free time…like munching on some twix while driving around town in his friend’s father’s fancy schmancy car.</p>
<p>My kids never stayed home to study for AP’s (didn’t study for them at all outside of school) or any other test/project. That is not to say they never skipped school but that was done w/ out my knowledge or approval except for senior skip day.</p>
<p>I wonder about these schools where kids are watching movies during the two AP weeks. Really? Most classes are missing half the kids? I doubt that, because that would mean that half the school’s population is taking the specific test being administered during that time! If the teachers are showing movies, it’s because they don’t want to be bothered to teach during that time, and have an excuse - they don’t want to be bothered with helping 2 or 3 students make up the work they’re missing.</p>
<p>Or maybe you’re all suggesting that the kids taking AP exams are all taking the same 5 or 6 AP classes together, so those classes only have 4 or 5 students in attendance? I’m sorry but the AP culture has gotten out of hand. AP classes were supposed to be for the handful of kids who excelled in 1 or 2 subjects, so they would have something to study rather than running out of classes, not as a substitute for Freshman year of college.</p>
<p>There’s a reason many of the elite colleges don’t accept all of the AP exams for credit. Many of the classes don’t cover the same material as the true college classes, and they don’t cover it at the same pace. I would even suggest that the shear number of AP exams available encourages students to rush through the earlier material in order to qualify for AP classes - and as a consequence build a less stable foundation in the material they should be learning in high school. If a student is that strong in ALL subjects, why isn’t he or she graduating a year or two early? </p>
<p>Not all colleges offer a reading period before exams - mine certainly didn’t. Yes, we had exam week, and could study between exams, but we didn’t have several days off to study. Classes ended on a Friday, exams started the following Monday.</p>
<p>By all means, if your student wants to take a day off to study for an AP exam, let him. But understand that his need to cram in order to get a higher score may be an indication that he hasn’t really learned the material. If he gets that higher score, and uses it to skip a foundation class, will he truly be prepared for the subsequent classes? Might be something to think about.</p>
<p>Great points, CTScoutmom. I think “AP” has become proxy for “honors” at many schools. Which means that not having AP classes on one’s transcript can become a liability for kids when their guidance counselor has to answer “how rigorous was this student’s curriculum?” on college applications. Many AP classes teach to the test now, which to my mind is not the same thing as demonstrating deep proficiency in a subject. It’s out of control.</p>
<p>Oh, for heavens’ sake. Skipping one day of class to get extra study or preparation time is shameful and means you’re dim and not up to the appropriate level for the class??!! Paleeeeze!</p>
<p>My kids never did that, but I would let them if they felt they needed it. I concur with classes being mostly useless for the last month of the school year. My senior’s classes are all dual, AP and music. All dual classes are over, all AP tests are done, and all music competitions for the year are over. So the kids are watching movies, helping teachers organize libraries and supplies, doing busy work, etc.</p>
<p>Last semester, D had a schedule crunch between all of her activities and took a day off to complete two papers that were due and study for finals. She needed it. And it was not shameful or useless. Geez. </p>
<p>The pressure put on kids sometimes is ridiculous.</p>
<p>CTScout, feel free to doubt it if you like, but that’s my son’s reality. His school is an academic magnet where the only option for English junior and senior years is AP. Almost all the kids take the exam, though it’s not required. Ds didn’t this year because he already had a 5 from last year’s English AP and we knew that a second 5 wouldn’t get him anything above what he already had from his EA school. Consequently, he was one of very few seniors not taking that test and so had just a few kids in each class at that time.</p>