When I was an elementary student, receiving a perfect attendance award was something I always wanted, but could never achieve. I got sick fairly often growing up, so I would miss school to stay home and recover. When our end-of-year assembly came around, I remember sitting in my school gymnasium, watching bitterly as students were called to stand up and receive the elusive award. 

As a child, I thought the award was unfair. I never chose to get sick and stay home, it was completely out of my control. Why did my classmates deserve a prize for never getting sick? If I had the choice back then, I would attend school everyday if it meant I got an award. 

Now that I’m an adult, I realize how unhealthy it was for me to have this mindset as a child. When I’m sick, my health should come first, not my education. For that reason, my opinion of perfect attendance awards remains the same: they are unhealthy, unnecessary, and harmful.

First, these awards encourage students and families to prioritize school, not health. Growing up, I had peers whose parents would send them to school even when they were sick. Not only is this unhealthy for the student themself, but sending sick children to school puts others, especially those with weaker immune systems, at risk. 

In fact, perfect attendance awards target students with chronic health conditions. Frequent hospital visits, numerous long doctor appointments, and side effects from medication are all potential reasons a child with a health condition may be absent from school. Perfect attendance awards show no grace for students who are absent due to health-related reasons. As a result, these children may feel their illness makes them not “good enough” to receive such an award.

Just as important as physical health is mental health. School can be mentally exhausting for students, especially when they have other personal issues to worry about. Even the youngest of children need days off, and sometimes the weekend just isn’t enough. Mental health days should be normalized in schools, but are often dismissed due to how emphasized perfect school attendance is. Unfortunately, many families don’t see the importance of allowing their child to take the day off, either. 

Finally, perfect attendance awards are superficial and don’t do anything to fix chronic absenteeism. Students don’t receive these awards because they worked hard or accomplished anything meaningful. They merely showed up to school every day, which, as I’ve already stated, can be unhealthy. 

Outside of health reasons, the expectation for students to be at school everyday is unrealistic, and sometimes impossible, for many families. Struggles like homelessness and transportation issues can make getting to school challenging. Additionally, a child may rarely come to school due to neglect within their household. When these students see their peers receive awards for perfect attendance, it can be distressing. Many children wish they could come to school everyday, that they could be the one receiving that award. 

Now, the point of this article is not to excuse chronic absenteeism. School is very important, but students should not place it above their health. We should encourage and teach students to take care of themselves, both physically and mentally. If they don’t do this, then the time they do spend in the classroom will be pointless; they’ll be too exhausted to focus and are unlikely to retain any information. 

When a student is chronically absent, teachers and school personnel should check in with families and work with them to come up with a plan for their child. To show to the full extent how much they care for the wellbeing of their students, schools should stop giving out perfect attendance awards.