{"id":2216292,"date":"2024-04-09T09:04:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-09T13:04:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bueller-how-school-absenteeism-went-from-silly-movie-plot-to-sinister-epidemic\/"},"modified":"2024-04-09T09:10:47","modified_gmt":"2024-04-09T13:10:47","slug":"bueller-how-school-absenteeism-went-from-silly-movie-plot-to-sinister-epidemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bueller-how-school-absenteeism-went-from-silly-movie-plot-to-sinister-epidemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Bueller? The Evolution of School Absenteeism from Comedy to Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbueller-how-school-absenteeism-went-from-silly-movie-plot-to-sinister-epidemic%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2216292&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The New York Times\u2064 article discussed the rise of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/oregon-department-of-education-takes-funds-for-disadvantaged-kids-pays-1619-project-creator-50k-report\/\" title=\"Oregon Department Of Education Takes Funds For Disadvantaged Kids, Pays 1619 Project Creator k: Report\">chronic absenteeism<\/a> in \u200cAmerican schools, affecting students across various demographics. The shift in the perception of the importance of attending\u200c school was highlighted. The\u2063 narrative explores modern \u200cabsenteeism, \u2063revealing \u200da lack of consequences and changing dynamics in student\u200b engagement.\u2064 This evolving landscape poses challenges for\u2063 educators regarding accountability and academic standards.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>The New York Times <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2024\/03\/29\/us\/chronic-absences.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&#038;referringSource=articleShare&#038;ugrp=c&#038;pvid=4F8634E6-BA6D-4560-A46B-CE13B91DB405\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">published an article<\/a> last week noting that chronic absenteeism in American schools has \u201cexploded,\u201d reportedly transcending narrow silos of region, race, class, and age.\u00a0But why wouldn\u2019t students skip school? These days they aren\u2019t missing out on much.<\/p>\n<p>The most powerful quote of the Times piece summarized the essence of the new reality facing American educators: \u201cOur relationship with school became optional.\u201d It turns out parents have decided school isn\u2019t the pressing priority it once was and that bargain family vacations, running errands, or just taking random days off are paramount to the demands of the traditional school schedule. <\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-907096196\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-5d8d315fdd967050b02405171ed66c36 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-5d8d315fdd967050b02405171ed66c36\"><\/div>\n<p>As with almost every new development in education, those of us on the front lines of American education are already acutely aware of the staggering number of empty desks on any given day. Many students are, at best, dependable three days a week, overwhelming numbers miss at least one day a week, and precious few aim for perfect weekly attendance, even in the honors courses.<\/p>\n<p>Where are the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=cqffXs6ztJM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ed Rooneys<\/a> today? Can anyone imagine a school administrator flipping out about \u201cnine absences\u201d in 2024? He\u2019d be chasing down 90 percent of the student body in perpetuity. Ferris Bueller would get a gold star. <\/p>\n<p>The dirty little secret in the AP and Honors world where I teach is that our most involved students miss instruction time with utter alacrity and usually without a scintilla of shame. They have this game, that field trip, or any number of extracurriculars tyrannically tugging at their blas\u00e9 commitments to the classroom. <\/p>\n<p>I am an admitted curmudgeon about absenteeism \u2014 begging and pleading with my students to tell me when they know they are going to be absent so I can plan accordingly. I am actually a little proud of the fact that missing students can\u2019t \u201cjust get the notes\u201d from a friend or \u201cget the work online.\u201d Of course, teachers should help students catch up \u2014 and I do. But <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/graphic-sexual-content-assigned-to-texas-students-dissenting-parents-harassed-with-anti-christiandks\/\" title=\"Graphic Sexual Content Assigned To Texas Students; Dissenting Parents Harassed With Anti-Christian\u2026\u2018D**ks\u2019\u00a0\">class time<\/a> should be unique and difficult to duplicate in isolation. For the chic, young, and hip teachers who are afraid to admonish the endlessly absent, the reality is demoralizing, especially in an era in which \u201caccommodation\u201d and \u201cgrace\u201d are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bueller-bueller-how-school-absenteeism-went-from-silly-movie-plot-to-sinister-epidemic\/\" title=\"From Film Joke to Serious Issue: The Evolution of School Absenteeism\">pedagogic commandments superseding quality instruction<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-95f5e55511a601a766d9a839fb7a4c8a fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-95f5e55511a601a766d9a839fb7a4c8a\"><\/div>\n<p>Here is a disturbing theory: Modern absenteeism is about much more than distorted attendance habits forged in the fires of the Covid-19 years. It is about more than bad parenting or the availability of class materials through digital portals and platforms. The harsh truth no one wants to admit is that absent students aren\u2019t missing much. Students can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-pushes-to-end-tax-breaks-for-fossil-fuel-companies-as-americans-already-feeling-pain-at-pump\/\" title=\"Biden Pushes To End Tax Breaks For Fossil Fuel Companies As Americans Already Feeling Pain At Pump\">miss school<\/a> because there are no consequences. Gone is the era in which students with a sniffle or teenage fatigue force themselves out of bed for fear of missing out on critical class content. The opportunity cost is virtually nothing. <\/p>\n<p>In short, when school gives little, it can\u2019t ask for very much in return. <\/p>\n<p>Why not stay home and play the latest iteration of \u201cFortnite\u201d if our students can just get the make-up work online? (They do, by the way.)\u00a0Why not sleep in since the teacher is forced to extend deadlines and provide alternative assignments for missing activities no matter why the student is missing? Today there is no distinction between a genuine absence versus an arbitrary one \u2014 an ethos of relativistic nonjudgment is the decree of the day.<\/p>\n<p>This Faustian compact permeates our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sarah-huckabee-sanders-unveils-platform-for-2022-ark-governor-race\/\" title=\"Sarah Huckabee Sanders unveils platform for 2022 Ark. governor race\">education system<\/a>. Teaching with low expectations and little accountability is much easier than holding young people to account for their shoddy behavior and poor performance. Insisting on respectful behavior, setting a high bar, and refusing to let students listlessly stew in their own cauldrons of disengaged indifference actually takes a lot of dedication and teacher professionalism. Who wants to work that hard? <\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-800273156935b02f0daf5085108056c5 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-800273156935b02f0daf5085108056c5\"><\/div>\n<p>But the kids are smart. They know the new reality. <\/p>\n<p>They know their counselors will pressure senior teachers to pass them even if they haven\u2019t done the work or been in class. Why? Because schools aren\u2019t judged by what their students know but by their graduation rates. <\/p>\n<p>The kids know they can push for a 504 plan (a list of accommodations teachers must legally provide in their classrooms), which insists on things like flexible due dates and as much time as needed for exams, all of which students use as cudgels to remind their teachers not to push too hard or insist on too much. I am even starting to hear teachers mention plans that stipulate open notes and the use of online resources during exams. Almost every exchange student I have had in recent years describes the American education system as a \u201cjoke\u201d or \u201ceasy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If you thought inflation was bad at the local grocery store, try it at the neighborhood school, where more students are on the honor roll or principal\u2019s list than not. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chalkbeat.org\/2022\/3\/16\/22979947\/high-school-grades-inflation-federal-naep-test-scores\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">In 1990, high school GPAs averaged 2.68. By 2019, they had risen to 3.11<\/a>. Studies show that in some instances, Covid <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full\/10.1177\/21582440231209110\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">inflated GPAs and depressed SAT scores<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, last year, an extraordinary <a href=\"https:\/\/www.13newsnow.com\/article\/news\/local\/mycity\/virginia-beach\/superintendents-note-increase-bad-behavior-in-classroom\/291-a12f8f13-8f85-4ad2-bf1d-3cab0ef56e80\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">81 percent of superintendents<\/a> said they believe behavior problems have significantly worsened since 2019. <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s no wonder the kids don\u2019t want to go to school. It\u2019s too easy. It\u2019s often chaotic. But the consequence of this will be a generation that has a fraction \u2014 a small, small fraction \u2014 of the knowledge or capacity of previous generations. Throw in TikTok, a lethargic antisocial lifestyle, and moral decline, and we all know how this ends. <\/p>\n<p>Maybe it\u2019s the adults and not the kids who have not shown up for most important work of all. <\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-b38413de836e31d2199d37cbb3c81bf3 fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-b38413de836e31d2199d37cbb3c81bf3\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">    \t\t\t\t\t   \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week, The New York Times highlighted the alarming rise of chronic absenteeism in American schools. This issue extends across regions, races, classes, and ages. Students may skip school as the educational experience has shifted. The article&#8217;s standout quote encapsulated this shift<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2304,"featured_media":2216293,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Wooden-chairs-room.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2216292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Wooden-chairs-room.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2216292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2304"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2216292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2216292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2216293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2216292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2216292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2216292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}