Sick passes at Colleges, what the heck?

  • Thread starter Thread starter victor.raum
  • Start date Start date
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
Sign up Log in
40 replies · 8K views
Evo said:
Maybe the OP can ask his GF to clarify.

I think that is a good idea. If she had work due and wants to be excused because she's sick then she definitely needs a note on the same day or a day previous to the due date.

If she's just missing class then this concept is absurd.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Evo said:
Maybe the OP can ask his GF to clarify.

dacruick said:
I think that is a good idea. If she had work due and wants to be excused because she's sick then she definitely needs a note on the same day or a day previous to the due date.

If she's just missing class then this concept is absurd.

I don't remember a professor ever explicitly telling me I couldn't retake an exam or hand in an assignment late because of sickness. Often there was a stipulation or an alternative, however.

I've always felt the policy was good training for the real world; at work, I'm free to miss a day due to illness but, for the most part, they don't reschedule meetings for me and no one changes production schedules.
 
FlexGunship said:
I don't remember a professor ever explicitly telling me I couldn't retake an exam or hand in an assignment late because of sickness. Often there was a stipulation or an alternative, however.

I've always felt the policy was good training for the real world; at work, I'm free to miss a day due to illness but, for the most part, they don't reschedule meetings for me and no one changes production schedules.

D) SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION - Students should expect that supporting documentation will be required and must be submitted before a deferral is approved. For illness or accident, supporting documentation will take the form of: (1) the Trent University Medical Certificate from Health Services: http://www.trentu.ca/healthservices/medical.html , or (2) a certificate or letter from the attending physician clearly indicating the start and end dates of the illness and the student’s inability to write an examination, complete assignments, and/or attend classes, as relevant to the particular request. For other circumstances, students should consult the instructor about acceptable forms of documentation.

6) Attendance at labs is mandatory. Assignments will NOT be accepted if records show you were not in attendance at the lab for which assignments apply. If you are absent for any legitimate reason, documentation must be presented to the course coordinator or senior demonstrator. Please see point 1) above if you attend another lab group.

These two points are from my bio class I'm in at the moment. The first part deals with assignments and exams/midterms and the second specifically deals with labs. (Since they have different people running them, one is the prof and the other is the lab instructor/lab demonstrator)

From this it is clear if you miss class for something worth marks then you will not receive a grade unless you provide a note explaining your absence. It is like this for all courses and it is like this for all schools in Ontario. It would be extremely unfair if you miss the exam due to having been hit by a car and not get the marks the same way it would be extremely unfair if you miss work due to being hit by a car and lose your job.

They won't even consider deferring your mark or allowing a retake without documentation. This is MUCH more scrutinous than most jobs and is NOT what happens in elementary schools. In elementary schools you basically do what you do for a job, you call in sick. In high school they start requiring notes, but from your parents or medical professional, and this is specifically for any absences due to people skipping a lot. This is what the OP expects, that he can call in and he can verify that she is sick. THAT'S the same expectation from a elementary school/high school.

College is WAY beyond that in that they don't care if you don't attend class at all, and if you miss marks and want to attempt to get credit for them because you're sick you MUST have a MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL sign off saying you were sick.

In fact! The SAME thing happens for a job. If you want your statutory holiday pay (here in Ontario) you MUST work the shift immediately before and after the holiday, OR you MUST work your shift on that day. If you call in sick or don't show up you forfeit your statutory holiday pay. If you want to be sick most employers will still pay you IF you bring in a note from a MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL. (AKA not your boyfriend calling in playing doctor.)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Evo said:
And your girlfriend should see the doctor anyway. You think she's really sick, so you don't want her to get checked? :rolleyes:

Is it better to raise everyone's health insurance rates just because there's a slight possibility her symptoms are the early signs of bubonic plague or is it better to endure minor illnesses for a day instead of unneccesarily burdening the health care system with trivial matters?

And since she did fork out money (either hers or the money of her health insurance company), the doctor should do something - at least prescribe some penecillin because what can that hurt? Well, unless all doctors prescribe penecillin for every trivial illness just to shut up their patients - that could eventually have some adverse consequences.

It really depends on what she's missing. Regardless of her illness, she has to turn in her work on time (either personally or trust someone else to turn it in for her) or else have a valid excuse. And allowing students to miss the original test date and to make it up only after they've heard about the test questions from other students isn't really fair. And making up labs with a different group stresses the system at least a little bit, since limited resources are being distributed out as evenly as possible - in other words, there won't be enough equipment available for the students to complete the labs if too many students show up for labs they weren't originally scheduled for.

In other words, there's valid reasons to require a validated excuse, but there's really no reason an excuse should be necessary for missing a normal lecture. The absent student asking dumb questions probably isn't an issue. Usually, those students will ask dumb questions even if they have perfect attendance and their absence would at least give one day's break from those dumb questions. Usually, the only hurt involved by an absent student would be an overly sensitive professor's bruised ego - he was probably under the illusion that students would walk through hail and high water to hear his words of wisdom and it hurts to be jolted back into reality.

With more and more assignments being turned in on-line, at least one reason for needing a doctor's excuse should become a lot less common. Labs and tests will probably always require some sort of excuse (I mean, surely academic integrity is more important to society than the rising cost of health insurance).
 
Last edited:
BobG said:
Is it better to raise everyone's health insurance rates just because there's a slight possibility her symptoms are the early signs of bubonic plague or is it better to endure minor illnesses for a day instead of unneccesarily burdening the health care system with trivial matters?
She was going to the school clinic to get a note. :confused:

It really depends on what she's missing. Regardless of her illness, she has to turn in her work on time (either personally or trust someone else to turn it in for her) or else have a valid excuse.
That's what we've been saying, that a note isn't required to skip class, it would be to get an exception granted. And see Acetone's post above yours.
 
Seems like there are two separate issues going:

1) what's the right behavior to deal with the illness -- seeking competent medical advice seems like the prudent and 'adult' thing to do.

2) Is it appropriate for college to take on the role of enforcing responsibility on college students -- imho, part of the education of college is to learn to run your own life, and that consequences are your own responsibility (if you have been shielded from that 'learning' up to now). Miss classes, risk failing. otoh, if you can master the material in less or at a different time than the classes, that should be your business. The one caveat I think is reasonable is requiring attendance at lab courses. You can't run the lab (i.e. touch the equipment, take the data, deal with the unexpected) without being there, and that's the point of these classes. So, miss the lab, miss the credit for it.
 
it's not an all or nothing thing. there are varying degrees of severity depending on whether you are missing a lecture, an important lab, or a final exam. I've only seen one course where attendance was taken daily, and that was a math course (stats). you got like 2~3 points out of a 1000 or so, with about 3 free days. enforced i guess because repetition and not getting behind are important for not failing in some maths. otherwise, i think professors that enforce too much hand-holding are suffering from some sort of emotional disorder.
 
rolerbe said:
Seems like there are two separate issues going:

1) what's the right behavior to deal with the illness -- seeking competent medical advice seems like the prudent and 'adult' thing to do.
Really? Do you seek medical advice every time you catch a cold or the flu?
 
rolerbe said:
Seems like there are two separate issues going:

1) what's the right behavior to deal with the illness -- seeking competent medical advice seems like the prudent and 'adult' thing to do.

Monique said:
Really? Do you seek medical advice every time you catch a cold or the flu?

How one deals with minor illnesses is almost off topic. The only reason it's relevant to this thread is that the school administration is forcing people to react (overreact?) to minor illnesses in a way that doesn't really make sense.

It only sounds like a harmless requirement if one takes the position that obtaining professional medical treatment is always a good idea - an idea that's only valid as long as professional medical treatment is always a free and unlimited resource.

Granted, 'free' use of the university's medical clinic might be something a person pays for as part of their tuition/general fees - i.e. not exactly free, but something they have to pay for whether or not they use it, so why not get your money's worth? The worst that could happen is higher tuition/general fees later on down the road by forcing students to take advantage of their 'free' medical benefits.
 
BobG said:
How one deals with minor illnesses is almost off topic. The only reason it's relevant to this thread is that the school administration is forcing people to react (overreact?) to minor illnesses in a way that doesn't really make sense.

It only sounds like a harmless requirement if one takes the position that obtaining professional medical treatment is always a good idea - an idea that's only valid as long as professional medical treatment is always a free and unlimited resource.

Granted, 'free' use of the university's medical clinic might be something a person pays for as part of their tuition/general fees - i.e. not exactly free, but something they have to pay for whether or not they use it, so why not get your money's worth? The worst that could happen is higher tuition/general fees later on down the road by forcing students to take advantage of their 'free' medical benefits.

I'm pretty sure the entire point of requiring a medical note is that if you think it's serious enough to miss marks and expect to be exempted or something for that illness then it sure should be serious enough to go to the doctors.
 
Acetone said:
I'm pretty sure the entire point of requiring a medical note is that if you think it's serious enough to miss marks and expect to be exempted or something for that illness then it sure should be serious enough to go to the doctors.

Maybe. I don't go to the doctor for a cold, but I certainly wouldn't go to class either. It's a matter of courtesy.