April 2026
Re: “School attendance “fix” punished kids (Iris Gorfinkel, Toronto Star, 23 April):
I have mixed feelings about this issue. From a personal standpoint, I can certainly understand why attendance in class is necessary and ideal. I also understand why absences occur from time to time.
Yes, mental health struggles are real and can be very debilitating. I have my own struggles with my mental health, related to my service as a police officer, as does someone close to me has also dealt with their own mental health issues. In both our cases, this has caused disruptions in our lives, including leading to absences from work and school.
That said, we do need to differentiate between someone who is genuinely struggling to function on a daily basis, and dare I say, a “typical teenager” who doesn’t want to get out of bed in the morning. I’m in my late 50s now, and I still hate getting up early in the morning, but I do if I it’s required. I learned from my time as a police officer and a navy reservist that there will be times in life where you have to do things you really don’t want to do, but you do them anyway. This may include going to work or school when you really don’t want to go, but no one said that life would always be easy. Even those suffering from a debilitating mental illness can benefit from the positive social interactions associated with going to work or school, rather than locking yourself in your house and never leaving.
On the other side of the coin, you can draw parallels to the debate about school attendance with the debate about remote working. While it is a valid argument that being in the office on a daily basis can be beneficial to your career advancement and assignment of desired projects, there are many professions where as long as you are getting your work done within needed timeframes, supervisors don’t care whether you are working in the office, from home or in your local coffee shop. These days, remote working has never been easier and more practical, making the usual 9-5 work structure unnecessary for many. It can be argued that school should really be no different, under certain conditions.
Sure, I personally think that being physically present at school is the better option, for social and activity reasons as well as academic, but the pandemic showed us that it is possible for students to complete course work from home, especially for a well-disciplined student who treats school hours as the time to do school work only, not updating your Tic Tok page. If a student is getting their work done and has satisfactory marks for their efforts, does it matter that much where the student was when completing that work?
Those who have been to university or college know there is often a lot of work that can and does get done outside of the classroom, but unlike high school, your professors won’t be calling your house to find out why you haven’t been attending class. If you fail the class due to a lack of attendance and failure to complete assignments, that’s your problem, not the professor’s.
As for the person in my life mentioned above, occasional absences haven’t affected their ability to get work done, especially work that can be done remotely, with little negative feedback overall.
Sources: Ford government attendance fix will punish kids in need, I’m a Grade 11 student. This is why attendance is so low.
