Senioritis or system failure? Seniors stagger to the finish line
As the second semester of the school year continues, fewer and fewer seniors are coming to class.
I credit this to “senioritis.”
Senioritis, according to the Urban Dictionary, can be a crippling disease for high school seniors, and it can mean a lot of things: “A lack of studying, repeated absences and a generally dismissive attitude” are symptoms, and “the only known cure is a phenomenon known as graduation.”
But even in April, graduation can seem a long ways off. Seniors get increasingly burnt out from simply attending school, especially as many don’t feel they are actually learning anything.
Miramonte senior Hana Shukairy is in multiple AP classes and said that a lot of the things she learns can be put into an email (without attending classes in person). “Senior year feels like a waiting room for what comes next,” said Shukairy.
Shukairy, like many other students, attends school anyway so that she doesn’t get called out as a truant..
One way teachers could get students to come to school and feel like they are learning is by exploring different learning methods that make students feel like they are absorbing information in a way they couldn’t do at home.
One example of this is interactive learning instead of lecture-based teaching. Interactive learning requires student participation – which helps them grasp concepts from personal experiences and simulations.
Additionally, deprioritizing busy work could also have a big impact on increasing participation and attendance.
Miramonte senior Tallia Miller said she’s tired of busy work.
“Activity-based learning would help me so much more than the current teaching methods at Miramonte,” Miller said. “I’m not learning anything at school, but I don’t think school is pointless because it’s the last year I’m going to see my friends.”
The social aspect of school is also why many students attend – despite feeling as if they aren’t learning.
Even with the social aspect, students often prefer staying home, which leads to truancy.
Miramonte has four stages of truancy, and the administration doesn’t actively disclose information on how many unexcused absences someone can have before they go to the next stage.
What students do know is that after four truancies, they aren’t allowed to walk at graduation.
This lack of transparency is annoying for some students like Miramonte senior Reese Akel.
“Administration is never clear on what it means to be a truant, what the specific consequences are for each stage or why it matters,” said Akel.
Akel hopes that the administration releases more information about the truancy system so that she and her peers can better understand it.
Another problem with the lack of transparency is that many students claim the truancy system is unfair because it’s too easy to become a truant.
Akel estimates that at least 60 people in the grade are truants.
“I rarely miss school and take multiple AP classes,” said Akel, “but I am still a level 1 truant.”
With a case of senioritis as well.
