Being a college student means going to class, studying, hopefully getting good grades, and, inevitably, getting sick often. College students tend to get sick more frequently than the average person, due to factors like close living quarters, increased social contact, and high stress levels, which increase the risk of infection. I myself have gotten sick three times already just this semester; I’ve been on antibiotics, antivirals, and have had so many cough drops I’ve stopped counting, basically eating them like candy.
Because I am sick so frequently (which I literally cannot control because who wants to get sick?), I often feel guilty when I have to email my professors to say that I am not going to be in class and submit that dreadful course action notice. Even though I have heard my professors say time and time again that they’d prefer if we don’t come to class if we are feeling a bit sick, I still feel guilty. They’re probably reading the absence notification like, “Here we go again, Josh is sick, just like he was two weeks ago, and three weeks before that, he’s probably just lying at this point.” Meanwhile, I’ll genuinely be lying half-dead in bed with a 103-degree fever — an incubus of viral plague.
Most of my classes this semester offer three excused absences without a grade penalty, which simply is insufficient. The illnesses I have are often not 24-hour bugs, and tend to last several days, already putting me down two absences in each class if I choose not to attend for a few days. That said, if I’m sick again — which is inevitable; this semester I had strep and a cold at different points, and last fall I had strep and mono at the same time — I’ll have used up all three of my available excused absences, thus every absence thereafter could jeopardize my grade. This doesn’t even take into consideration family emergencies, travel delays, death in the family, or any of the other excused absence reasons outlined in Path@Penn’s Course Action Notices.
Given this, the grading system of many of Penn’s academic departments must undergo revision to accommodate sick days, and not just offer three excused absences. Further, participation points or pop quizzes should automatically be exempted for students missing class for personal health reasons. And if this means having to provide verification of illness, such as a doctor’s note, then so be it — if it means that my grade won’t suffer because I cannot stop coughing a thousand times in one hour to show proof that I am on 1,200 mg of amoxicillin per day, then by all means I’ll show proof that I am sick on my deathbed.
Personally, I think that there should be no standard excused absence limit; it should all be on a case-by-case basis and at the discretion of the professor based on the student’s academic performance, effort, and integrity. We, as students, strive to make every attempt and initiative to attend class when necessary and receive an education endowing us with the knowledge and skills essential to endeavors in the postgraduate world. We want to go to class, but forgive us if we get sick a few times a semester and stay home a few times a semester because we don’t want to spread our illness to the rest of the class.
Students, just stay home if you’re sick. No one wants to hear your sniffles — or much worse, catch your germs and replicate them a couple days later. It is important that you rest to support your immune system and safeguard a speedy recovery.
Professors and other educators, please consider adopting more lenient policies in drafting syllabi regarding student absences for personal health reasons. If a student is genuinely sick, it is in everyone’s best interest that they stay home, and their grade should absolutely not be at risk if they’re making a safe and healthy decision and doing everyone a favor by not going to class.
JOSHUA DAUGHERTY is a Nursing sophomore from Farmington, Conn. studying nursing. His email address is joshuacd@nursing.upenn.edu.
