The Skipping Epidemic: A Closer Look On Why Kids Cut Class

The Skipping Epidemic: A Closer Look On Why Kids Cut Class

By Olivia J and Anagha A

During the day, you see plenty of people wandering around the halls skipping their classes; it's not an uncommon sight. So we decided to put up a poll in bathrooms and hallways for people to fill out so we can get an idea of why so many kids are skipping. Polled students were given the choice of uninteresting classes, misunderstanding course material, anxiety, the need to move around, the desire to see friends, and other.

For other, 23 people answered, and eight of those people wrote that they don’t like the people in their classes, leading them to skip. A few others that marked the other section put down that they skip because of their mental health, their work is too hard and they don’t like their teachers or that they simply need a break because they're tired. There were 11 more checks but that didn’t list a reason why.

We interviewed two teachers, Madam Herrera and Mrs. Hayden, along with two administrators, Mrs. Martin and Mrs. Closs, to see how they feel and think about kids skipping.

Q: How do you feel about kids skipping your class?

Mrs Hayden: I feel offended; they don’t want to be in my class

Madame Herrera: Well, I don't support skipping. I just think they need to be where they need to be because we're preparing them for adulthood, and I can't just decide I'm not going to come to my third block as a teacher and go to the cafeteria instead.

Q: Do you experience a lot of skipping? What do you do about students who skip?

Madame Herrera: No, not really. Not this year, at least. If someone skips, I catch it and an email goes home or a phone call goes home, and it usually stops there.

Q: Does it affect your teaching?

Mrs. Hayden: No, not at all, I’ll teach whoever shows up and whoever doesn’t, that's their problem, but it does mean I have to do a lot more catching up later.

Q: What do you think the number one cause for kids skipping is?

Mrs.Hayden: In terms of math class, they just don't think they can do math, so they don't want to be there; they don't want to feel disappointed in themselves that they're lost and confused, so it seems like a better option to not be in class.

Madame Herrera: I think probably friends, like the influence of friends or a boyfriend. I think those would be the main reasons

Q: Judging from the results of a recent poll the Titan Times conducted within the school, the #1 cause of skipping class seems to be students needing a break to move around and recharge their brains. Do you think this is accurate?

Mrs.Hayden: Sitting there for an hour and a half is a long time. I 100% agree with that, but I also don't think that we need to be giving everybody these extra 20-minute breaks all the time. We have to find a balance; you’re here to learn, so we can’t be spending half of our time not doing that.

Madame Herrera: Well, I think that they have to come to reality because in any workplace they can't just get up and leave. Yes, there's break time for that, and that's like you can use your lunch to go walk around, or at the beginning of the day, get here earlier and go walk around.

Q: Now, knowing the findings of our poll; would you change how you’re currently doing things?

Mrs. Hayden: I mean, I could change how I'm teaching, yes, but it might be more productive getting up and doing work on our whiteboards that we have in the math classrooms. So we are still doing active learning, but we're doing more movement; we're not just sitting at a desk falling asleep, so I would balance it out that way rather than saying, Oh, you have a 20-minute break just to sit there and stare at your phones.

Madame Herrera: If they feel they—and I always tell students this: If you're feeling sleepy, I have no problems with you standing during class because you can put your notebook against the counter. And right, or if you’re trying to stretch because you hurt a muscle, same thing. If you want to stretch, stretch. I will never tell a student to sit down while I teach, please.

Q: What do you think the school could do to prevent students from skipping? For example, should the time in between classes be a few minutes longer?

Mrs. Hayden: I don't know if that's really going to help. I think kids are just going to use that more as an excuse to spend more time with their friends and show up late to class, but I also don't think giving kids detention every time they show up late to class is teaching them to show up on time either.

Madame Herrera: Students need to have honest conversations with their teachers like, "Hey, today I'm feeling sleepy. Do you mind if I go splash water on my face?" or "do you mind if I walk to the bathroom and back?" So maybe make sure teachers and students have good communication.

Now let’s talk to some administrators

Q: How often do you catch kids skipping?

Mrs. Martin: It's non-stop. It's every single block, it doesn't matter what time it's all the time

Q: What punishments do skippers face?

Mrs. Closs: The admin team uses a progressive discipline model, so for the first offense, for most things, it's just a verbal warning. We have a discussion. Sometimes we call home. Then the second time, we document it in the system, and we issue a detention Then after that, if it continues to happen, it escalates to in-school suspension, and then, quite frankly, when it continues to be a consistent issue or if you're skipping two, three, four blocks in a day, we do start suspending kids out of school. Because it's a safety concern. If we can't identify where a kid is, then we can't ensure the school is safe for you, or if something happens to you or somebody else. And we don't know where everybody is. It's a really big problem. It depends on the frequency and how often.

Q: Why do you think most students are skipping?

Mrs. Martin: They don’t want to go to class.

Mrs. Closs: They just want to meet their friends in the bathrooms.

Q: Judging from the results of a recent poll the Titan Times conducted within the poll, the #1 cause of skipping class seems to be students needing a break to move around and recharge their brains. Do you think this is accurate?

Mrs Closs: I think that plays into it for a very small fraction of people. That is the reality, and they're using it to their advantage. Other kids say I can't sit, and they use that to their advantage to also get out of things. So do I think a 90-minute class or an 80-minute class is really long for kids? Absolutely. I'm an adult with ADHD, and that's tough. You know, I do think some kids take advantage of it and use that as their excuse. And for some kids, it's a reality. And for the kids, it's a reality. I'm sorry that kids take advantage of it.

Q: Do you think there are better ways to prevent kids from skipping than what you’re doing right now?

Mrs. Closs: Absolutely, there has to be a better model. But right now we are at a base level; we need to ensure safety, so we have to handle it the way we're handling it right now because it is pretty pervasive, but definitely probably better ways. And more policies and plans that we could put in place. But, I don't quite know what that is off the top of my head right now.