have you ever been absent? If you are a human, then it is very possible “yes” for what reason is not important the important note is did you miss work? That is probably a yes. This also happens to many students. missing school is a fact of life and in turn, missing work and having your grades sacrificed as a result of that unfortunately it has been normalized to miss work and for teachers to make grades worse afterward on purpose or not. for many being absent from school feels almost like a punishment not only the pain annoyance or discomfort from being sick but also the stress and worry about missing assignments and affected grades.

Stress and Sickness

Many reading this have missed school while absent Did you think about schoolwork and how it may affect your grades? Were you stressed out or were you even able to get work done? Many students here at Greenwood agree that yes being out and having work expected of you causes extra stress that doesn’t help them get better. 15-year-old Sophomore Damian Tally stated, “Whenever I’m sick I usually worry about school work and fear that even if only for a short time it will permanently affect my grades” That is also insinuated by Rinie Smith a 14-year-old freshman who said, “My grades went down, but not too much, but went down because it was late.” These students agree that the stress of being sick mainly comes from the fact that they are usually unable to complete school work which would usually heavily affect grades. So students seem to believe that most stress from being sick comes from missing work. Also stated by Inkling News, “Attempting to complete your work while also catching up on failed work due to illness is incredibly stressful and overwhelming to students.” showing us how being sick can result in stress mounting for students who can’t control the fact that they are sick and said before making it feel almost like a punishment. Audrey Burnley from the Scot Scoop at Claremont High School said in her article on the subject, “Yes I spent the day laying in bed …but all the while, I had this dark cloud of missing classwork and homework looming- not part of the doctor’s prescription.” they have brought up a good point that missing school leaves students with this looming feeling of dread resulting in large amounts of stress, dissociation, and many other things all degrading mental and physical health. Another thing to note is that many studies have shown that missing work actually might make students sick.

Missing Assignments Make Us Sicker?

Many articles said that students could be getting sick because of school and the stress of missing assignments also quoted from the Inkling News, “Students should not have to deal with the added pressure of lower grades when they are already ill. Since stress contributes to illness, students need the day off to recover so they can feel as if they are even able to complete their assignments.” showing how it’s possible that lower grades and missing assessments affect student’s sickness and instead of them getting the break they need to recover instead get sicker from elevated stress from the missing assignments resulting in a cycle of missing assignments and sickness. All of this affects the physical health of students in a negative way as to keep this happening and too many people just see it as normal to do anything to help students get out of this bad situation. So we’ve realized that physical health is affected by this but what about mental health? Usually, where physical health is affected mental health is as well as seen in a study from 2019 academic pressure can be associated with “Depression, Anxiety, increased substance use, disconnection from reality” and more resulting in a tole not only physical but mental as well wearing down on the student in question who despite needing to heal from this sickness is just getting worse due to the built-up stress.

we have seen that being at home sick and the extra work associated with it can leave students feeling ill, can affect them mentally and physically, leave them feeling guilty for their absence, and in general, harm the student and their grades in the process. The interviews showed how likely it is we can agree that school work from being sick is just as stressful as being sick. How can schools and teachers accommodate students better when they are sick and stuck at home? Some suggestions from students include: having all assignments available online, as well as class materials and notes on the lessons. Some even thought that maybe the students should be given the benefit of the doubt and not have the points lost. Being responsible for learning what was missed is more important. There are many ways that schools can help kids who have been kept home due to being sick. Then maybe kids can just focus on getting well so they can perform their best when they come back to school.