Sample Response to Editorial
To the editor
Should an entire class of students be hindered in their learning if one of their classmates decides to have a day off school?
I think not, and the majority of parents and students would believe the same. However in her 12/2/2013 article about the government’s Truancy Penalty Susie O’Brien would have you believe that missing a few days of school really isn’t that big of a deal and that really the parents should be the ones deciding what’s best for their child not the state government. Her general ignorance and inability to look beyond the superficial has surprised me and I hope has surprised many other readers as well. But just in case you didn’t, I feel it is my responsibility as a hardworking student to enlighten you as why we cannot afford to have any more people thinking the same way as Ms O’Brien.
First of all she states that by allowing a child to miss a day of school it can actually benefit the child. I hope you find the rather amusing because I sure do. Missing a day of school for whatever reason can never benefit a child this is because he will now be one day behind in terms of learning then the rest of his class and because of this we either have one of two outcomes. Either the child has to catch-up with the studies in his own time or the rest of the class has to wait for him to catch-up. In the fast paced and progressive environment of school education isn’t it safe to assume that the child will have to spend the same amount of time outside of school catching up with the rest as he would have if he attended school? This is severely detrimental the psychological wellbeing of the child as well as his ability to learn, as he now has to spend time outside of school completing homework for the current school day as well as the homework and classwork of the day he missed. Surely putting this much pressure on a student is unreasonable and would understandably cause the child a fair amount of unnecessary stress. Furthermore is it fair to say
Should an entire class of students be hindered in their learning if one of their classmates decides to have a day off school?
I think not, and the majority of parents and students would believe the same. However in her 12/2/2013 article about the government’s Truancy Penalty Susie O’Brien would have you believe that missing a few days of school really isn’t that big of a deal and that really the parents should be the ones deciding what’s best for their child not the state government. Her general ignorance and inability to look beyond the superficial has surprised me and I hope has surprised many other readers as well. But just in case you didn’t, I feel it is my responsibility as a hardworking student to enlighten you as why we cannot afford to have any more people thinking the same way as Ms O’Brien.
First of all she states that by allowing a child to miss a day of school it can actually benefit the child. I hope you find the rather amusing because I sure do. Missing a day of school for whatever reason can never benefit a child this is because he will now be one day behind in terms of learning then the rest of his class and because of this we either have one of two outcomes. Either the child has to catch-up with the studies in his own time or the rest of the class has to wait for him to catch-up. In the fast paced and progressive environment of school education isn’t it safe to assume that the child will have to spend the same amount of time outside of school catching up with the rest as he would have if he attended school? This is severely detrimental the psychological wellbeing of the child as well as his ability to learn, as he now has to spend time outside of school completing homework for the current school day as well as the homework and classwork of the day he missed. Surely putting this much pressure on a student is unreasonable and would understandably cause the child a fair amount of unnecessary stress. Furthermore is it fair to say