Classes never usually fit into neat 45 or 55 minute blocks. Some teachers teach till the very end; sometimes, a test is obscenely long and students are scrambling to finish; other times, teachers loose track of time, and consequently, students are rushing to get their things together, preparing to take an epic jog across campus so they can attempt to be on time for their next class; and perhaps, another time, a student is busy after school/has no congruent free blocks with the teacher, so that the only time they can ask for help is after class.
In all these situations, a couple of minutes here and there, can make a difference in a student’s academic performance. They can also make a quite a difference on a student’s attendance record as well.
Lately, teachers have been arbitrarily emphasizing this de facto rule that teachers cannot excuse students from other teacher’s classes. If you’re late because you spent extra time finishing a test, that’s just great, because now you have an unexcused tardy, even if you have proof that you weren’t just fooling around. There is absolutely nowhere in the Holy Bible of LHS that states that teachers cannot excuse students from being late to classes. It is completely unfair to penalize a student for being late because they were attempting to succeed in another class. In all of these hypothetical situations, the teacher is at fault but the students are the ones who feel the ramifications.
One cannot help but feel a sense of superiority from some of the teachers at Lex High. Many of them are unable to see that students take more classes than just their class. ‘No teacher is allowed to excuse a student from my time’ is a commonly held mindset. Though they may have a point, we should not have to bear the burden for another teacher’s mismanagement or inadequacies. These unexcused tardies can amass, and sooner or later, a student has unexcused absences that he/she is not responsible for.
There is no clear way to rectify this situation, however, this issue reveals an deeper problem among the teaching staff at Lex High, which is a lack of understanding of the students that they teach. We take multiple classes– it’s inevitable that things will come up that can’t just be solved in five minute passing time. However, in a situation in which a teacher is at fault, should we really have to bear the punishment? I think not.
