An upbeat website for a downtown school

the Southerner Online

An upbeat website for a downtown school

the Southerner Online

An upbeat website for a downtown school

the Southerner Online

Classes fail students

BY THE SOUTHERNER EDITORIAL BOARD

Why did I come?

It’s a question we ask ourselves often as we sit through countless movies and fill out endless worksheets. Yes, we do have constructive classes in which we feel accomplished and productive, but rarely does a day go by when we don’t sit in a desk for an hour and a half asking ourselves why we are there.

We don’t expect this to change. Grady’s strengths come from its extracurricular activities, diverse student body and a few of its more rigorous classes. Everyone knows, however, there are some classes you just have to suffer through.

Administrators recently gave seniors with excessive absences an “attendance contract.” They claim that seniors with more than 10 absences in a given class will not get credit for that class, which could keep them from graduating.

While we acknowledge that attendance is important, it is only important if the classes themselves are. We understand why students, especially seniors, would not want to come to a class in which they just sit and watch a movie or complete a worksheet. In those classes, if students can get good grades, why does it matter how much time they are physically present in the class?

Something needs to change. Whether it’s the attendance policy or the classes themselves doesn’t matter to us. But right now, administrators are trying to force seniors to sit through classes in which they do nothing—a recipe for failure.

At our school, students start the day without expectations. For us, class is like a box of chocolates: You never know what you’re going to get.

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Classes fail students