Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hi, welcome to Bird With The Word. In this episode, Melora and Emmaliyah will be talking about finals and attendance policies. Hi, my name is Melora Morgan. I’m a sophomore at Nixa High School. Hi everybody. My name is Emmaliyah Davis and I’m a sophomore at Nixa High School. And today we’re going to be talking about school policies and school rules. The first policy we’re going to visit is the finals incentive, which is basically where if you miss more than two days of school, you have to take finals in whatever class you have more than two absences, more than two absences in. And I’m going to be talking about why I think we should revise the finals policy rule. Because first reason I think we should revise it is I think two days just simply isn’t enough for the average teenager. Studies show that teenagers get sick two to four times a year, which is like once or twice a semester if you break it down.

(00:57):
Which assuming, let’s just say students took one day each time they were sick a semester. That’s already two days and that’s not accounting for any personal things they might have like a funeral or a wedding or something they can’t miss that like their parents are making them go to. And or other days like mental health days that they’re encouraged to take because high school can be stressful. So if you add all those up, even if like you’re only sick for like two days a semester, that’s still four days, which is the amount I would say students should get each semester. That way it provides a good base for the incentive, which still, oh my gosh, still keeping the incentive because I believe it’s good to have incentives, but not making it so that kids are coming to school sick just so they don’t have to take finals.

(01:48):
Another reason I think that this would be a better idea is because that finals are the only incentive that is based off attendance. You also, depending on, it’s arena scheduling is also based off attendance where it’s like the more days you miss, the farther back you get to schedule. It’s also parking spots. So when you start driving, like based on your attendance throughout the years is how good of a parking spot you’re going to get, which is why I think the finals policy just kind of shouldn’t be something people have to worry about, especially if they don’t care about their schedule or if they don’t drive. It’s like they’re only going to care about finals and two days a semester just isn’t enough. And I realize that the administration sees finals as not a punishment, so much as a punishment as rather just something that happens if you miss too much school.

(02:32):
I think they don’t understand how kids see it, students see it as a punishment to missing more than two days. So I do think that like the incentive for finals is good to be like, if you have less than 70%, you have to take finals. I think that encourages students to keep their grade up while not putting their health at risk and their rest at risk. And I’m going to hand it over to Emmaliyah and she’s going to talk about the phone policy.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
People are not allowed to use their phones in the hallways at all. They’re not allowed to talk to their parents during class. When the students back talk to the teachers about their phones, they get their phones taken away. The teachers have an envelope where students can put phones in. When students have their phones out, they can put phones in the envelope and it gets sent to the office. I disagree with the phone policy because it invalidates the law. People believe it’s essential for emergencies and parent contact are useful for educational tools, self-discipline, and that banning them misses an opportunity to teach responsible digital habits. I feel that students should use their phones during lunch because they get a 30 minute break to eat and look on their phones before they can go to their next class. I think all of the students should have their phones out during start because it helps them refresh their memory and get back into what they were doing, whether it’s schoolwork or project.

(03:58):
Also, they need to do something active with their phones when students are not at school and not doing homework. Either that’s taking a walk, using a GPS or track where they’re going. Thanks for listening and catch you next time on Bird With The Word.