Did you know that roughly 22% of students in the U.S skip class on a regular basis? Fox News states, “A chronically absent student is out of school for at least 18 days, or 10% of the school year.”
Studies show that chronically absent students have GPAs that are significantly lower than students who don’t skip class. Not only do their GPAs go down, it’s proven that they often show being 1-2 years behind their peers academically. There’s also a risk while skipping class of having to repeat a year of school. Although it’s more typical to be held back in earlier years such as kindergarten through third grade, it’s still a possibility in higher level. If the student is not being held back, there’s a high chance that you’ll have to repeat the class later in your high school journey. In my opinion, I’d rather get a class done and over rather than having to take it again if I really didn’t like it.
Skipping class may seem easier in the short-term. However, if you don’t want to repeat a year or a class, you’ll have to end up doing all the work in that class that you missed. Personally, I see that as being more overwhelming than it would be if you did the work to begin with. Students who skip class also have a higher chance of dropping out of school and not graduating. This means you’d have a more difficult time getting into any college that you may want to get into. Or -as stated before- being more behind academically than your peers.
Why are students skipping class? Researchers say that some of the most common reasons for skipping class consist of: feeling bored in a class or feeling as though a topic is irrelevant, and mental health issues such as anxiety or depression. An obvious reason for skipping class is being physically ill. However, this causes you to most likely miss a whole day or even multiple school days rather than just a class period or two. Another example is having external factors such as sports, or a job. This may be the most difficult factor to work around because sports are a big part of many students’ lives. Along with jobs, some jobs may not have flexible hours and students could be working from the time they get out of school until 9pm or later. A schedule like this would cause students to be very tired and feel exhausted.
Some teachers have tried creating more welcoming classrooms to encourage attendance. This works in some cases. However, most times with students who skip class, if they even so much as don’t like who they’re sitting next to. This makes the problem more internal than external. While completely eliminating class skippers may be unrealistic, efforts like creating engaging classrooms, addressing mental health needs, and supporting students with demanding schedules could help reduce the number of students skipping class.
