Teacher Assigns Elementary Student A Petty Assignment As Punishment For Missing The First Day Of School
The teacher appears to be sending the message that being absent from school will impact your future.
Hafiez Razali, AJR_photo / Shutterstock After a little boy was absent for his first day of school, he was welcomed back to class with an unusual homework assignment.
Now, the boy’s parents cannot help but wonder if the assignment was an indirect jab at them for allowing their son to miss his first day of school, a decision that his teacher apparently did not approve of.
The boy’s teacher assigned him a petty homework assignment after he missed the first day of school.
The little boy’s parent took to the subreddit, r/mildlyinfuriating, to share their story.
After the eight-year-old missed his first day of third grade for undisclosed reasons, his teacher sent him home with a word search assignment. The boy’s parent revealed that they discovered the word search in their son’s folder when he arrived home from school.
The word search was titled “3rd Grade PRESENTATION. Miss School… Miss Out.” The assignment consisted of words that the boy had to find and circle on the sheet. Some of the hidden words were “Absent,” “Education,” “Responsibility,” “Attend,” “Learn,” “Truant,” and “Appointment.”
The boy’s parent believed that the word search was meant to embarrass them and their son since he had missed his first day of school. “I just don’t know how to feel about this,” the parent wrote, adding that their son had to ask them what “truant” meant.
“Is this directed at the parents or simply just a fun worksheet?” they asked.
Most Redditors believed that the word search was assigned to the boy as a punishment for his absence.
“This is such a weird thing to give a student for missing their first day,” one user commented. “This is petty as hell,” another user wrote.
Many people found it bizarre that a teacher would create an assignment designed to shame those who were absent from school.
“Former teacher here. This is horrible. Shame on whoever decided this should be sent home,” one user shared. “No eight-year-old wants to miss the first day, and I’m sure you didn’t want that either.”
Photo: ambermb / Canva Pro
“This is definitely uncalled for. One missed day of school doesn't warrant punishment, in my opinion. There could be several reasons why someone may miss their first day of school,” another user noted.
Others encouraged the parent to take the word search directly to the school board and report the teacher who assigned it.
Punishing or shaming kids for being absent from school fosters a negative and apathetic learning environment.
In the United States, there are typically 180 to 200 days in the school year. That accounts for nearly half of an entire year.
Young children who attend school are bound to miss a few of those days here and there due to unavoidable circumstances, whether it be illness, family emergencies, or necessary appointments.
Instead of underhandedly embarrassing students and their parents, teachers and school administrators can focus on solutions to improve attendance.
Photo: Monkey Business Images / Shutterstock
There are various ways to improve attendance, but most important is fostering a healthy learning environment.
School should not be a place that students should fear or be humiliated in. Instead, they should aim to create an environment that promotes understanding, communication, and support to address the root causes of absenteeism and help students succeed academically and personally.
A student’s future will not crumble if they miss a few days of school every once in a while.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.