Simpedia

Mark M. New York

This is just an idea. I don’t know that I want to implement it. Just something I’ve pondered and am curious to see what others think: the possibility of building into policies a certain number of annual “student personal days” that would work just like a teacher’s own personal/vacation days, except that it’s the students who’d get to pick when they take place.

I’d imagine requiring that everyone involved in a lesson agree to the dates, so that it would be a genuine day off for everyone, just as when a teacher declares no lesson for a particular day. All of this would mean that it would be somehow accounted for in tuition, either included as part of ongoing tuition (like a teacher’s personal/vacation days), or credited back per instance, because if it wasn’t, then it’s no different from students simply being absent from a class they paid for and having to absorb the loss.

It seems like a potentially interesting and effective way to:

–dissuade students/families from taking unpaid leaves of absence which can then lead to an increased likelihood that they simply never come back even though they may say they intend to

–ameliorate ill feelings students/families may have about not getting credit for any of their absences (yes, I know you can just stand by your policy and get everyone to accept that they don’t get any credit)

–minimize the potential slowing down of group progress related to students not effectively catching up when they’re absent (yes, I know that students are supposed to know how to effectively stay caught up when they’re absent)

–foster added peer support and mutual benefit by giving group students/families an added, concrete way that they’d see themselves in the same boat together

Thoughts?