Attendance is a crucial key towards success in school, and seeing my official attendance

records for the first time the other day brought shock to my face. How could I have missed so

many days? Did I really miss all those days? I wonder how different my grades would be if I

stayed in class for most of those days that I was gone?

Did I really miss all those days in school? Yes, yes I did. Most of those days were due to

just an illness, but even then I could have gone to school sometimes because it was just minor

illnesses now that I look back. I wonder how many fights I would have been able to see if I was

in class than at home feeling like crud because I was sick.

Luckily, the two-day homework makeup policy is a lifesaver, and there were many nights

where all I was doing was homework makeup, and I was able to get at least a passing grade. It

felt so satisfying seeing the homework that piled up, due to me being absent, slowly diminishing

until there was no more makeup homework left.

I cannot control my immune system, like many others. When i’m sick, I can’t simply just

tell myself to kill the flu viruses floating around inside my body, messing up stomach and

intestines. I have to just fight it out, even if it can take up to days sometimes. My teachers were

able to understand my illnesses when I was absent, and the option was almost always open to

make up the work I had missed while I was gone. Most people are absent a few times when they

get sick throughout the school year so I think it’s okay in some cases, but in the future when it

comes to having a job, not making it to work without a valid excuse will definitely affect you

and it can even make you look unreliable.