My mom once told me about an award she got back when she was in elementary school. It was an award for perfect attendance. I am proud of her for getting that award, but learning about other people’s lives makes me wonder why an award like this would be considered fair.

People are bound to be absent from school a few times in their life. I remember having a perfect attendance record from grade 4 to grade 6. Sure there were times when I was a bit late but other than that, I was always at school. Grade 7 rolled around and I had to miss a few days because my family went on spring break early. During high school, I also missed a few days for school-related events. This proved to me that I can miss a day to do things that are fun every once in a while. Also, when I was in 10th grade, my school had a measles exposure and I had to miss a week because it turned out one of my vaccinations as a baby didn’t count. Again, nothing bad happened and the worse thing that happened was having to do a makeup quiz.

https://twitter.com/vivastweets/status/1613179187648512000?t=eZN_4JoGIa4CKUqLGMiUGA&s=19

The big thing to mention is getting sick or having medical issues. Especially in this age where there’s a pandemic, people are likely to end up staying home if someone in their home gets infected. This makes attendance awards completely unfair. What if someone comes to school or goes to work with an illness and gets someone sick, no matter what they do? You end up screwing someone over, all because being somewhere was that important to your superiors. Also, people with cancer, disabilities, or other chronic medical conditions would immediately feel left out because their conditions don’t allow them to always show up.

These awards need to stop. It’s unfair for those who can’t control when they can come and is also ableist.