At Jenison High School, seniors get two absences during the second semester. If they have 2 or fewer absences, they have the option to waive exams. If they go over the 2 absences they have to take the exam for the class. These absences include sick days and to get them excused you have to go to the doctor.

Seniors should be able to miss more days in school and still be able to waive their exams. If a senior has an A in the class, absences shouldn’t factor into exam waiving. 

Busy year

When you are a senior, there is so much you have to do. College visits, doctor appointments, extra testing, and field trips. There are so many opportunities in your senior year. But sometimes those things mean missing school. Students have to pick between doing something outside of school that would be fun or taking exams. If a senior feels confident in their classes then they should be able to be absent as much as they want. As long as they stay caught up and they can pass.

Jonathan Oosting from The Detroit News says “Think of a student who has an orthodontist appointment. With travel time, those can easily last between an hour and an hour and a half,” said Knezek, D-Dearborn Heights. “The way the legislation is currently written a student would only have 40 to 45 minutes for these kinds of medical appointments and procedures.”

Others may say that you could get doctor’s notes and things like that to excuse you. But that can get difficult.

Seniors are humans too.

Two absences is a very small amount for 4 months of school. If you are sick for a few days then you have to take exams. That is crazy. The average head cold can take someone out for a few days. Some kids like to go on trips or take personal days but the two absences don’t allow for any personal days.

Andrew J Rotherham a writer from the U.S. news says ¨Besides, I’d argue a few days being physical in the high mountains opens minds in some important ways. But in addition to skiing, I’ve also pulled my kids out of school for, among other activities, fishing trips, baseball spring training, NHL hockey practices, museum trips, and interesting work trips with me. Depending on your perspective, that’s fine or awful parenting. Reasonable people can disagree…. So rather than just fret over absenteeism, let’s encourage it. But in a more structured way that works for all kids and changes rather than buttresses our current educational arrangements. All the kids missing school – whatever the reason and whatever they’re doing – they’re telling us something if we stop to listen.¨

Some may say that seniors should focus on their schooling and not worry about things like trips. But coming to school every day can affect our mental health.

Seniors are stressed

Senior year is the most stressful year of high school. Senior year is the year when everyone is asking them about their futures that they may not even know yet. Seniors feel so pressured to figure it out. They also have to start applying to schools or figure out where they are going to work after graduation. They have to figure out how they are going to afford life outside of high school. It can be so stressful and they deserve to take days off. With only two absences, they feel pressured to come to school even when their brains could use a rest.

Andy Steiner, a writer for the MinnPost “Students are sicker now than what I’ve seen in previous years,” she said. Doth sees this rise in mental health and addiction issues as a result of young people living through a chaotic year that didn’t match their long-held expectations of what the culmination of their high school career would be like: “Kids have been struggling to adjust to all this change, this uncertainty. Even today I got a referral from one of the schools I work with where a student had overdosed at school. And that’s not the first [overdose] case I’ve seen.”

Some may say that seniors should be able to balance the stress of school and life together. It would help them prepare themselves for the real world.

Seniors are very stressed and they deserve a break.

Seniors would enjoy having a few more allowed absences.