Circe wrote:


Well, I agree that the disruption is unfortunate, but I also think it was
the teacher's *choice* to delay the material until all the students were in
class. The teacher presumably knew what the material was. The teacher
presumably could have given the material to the parents of the students who
were going to be out and had them impart it to their children. We're not
talking about calculus here, are we? We're talking about curriculum for
third graders, and I'm sure most parents in affluent schools are perfectly
capable of homeschooling third-grade material for a few days.


Actually, it was more orientation information--
class rules and policies, how to do various class and
school specific stuff, assessments that would have been
difficult to make up, etc. So it wasn't something
the child could make up or the parent could teach,
but it was something quite important to the child's ability
to navigate the class successfully. The teacher *could*
have decided to let those kids sink or swim, but it
would have made life very difficult for the students
who missed it, not to mention it would have created
a headache for the teacher who would have either had
to write everything down to send it home, or would have
had to take time away from other students to convey
the information. And the assessments would have had
to be done outside of normal school hours or would have
required taking class time away from the other students.


IOW, you're blaming parents for a decision that was really made by the
teacher. If you were sure that every single absence was the result of an
illness or truly justifiable reason, the delay would have been just as
disruptive.


Absolutely--but we think differently of
absences for different reasons! If someone calls

you to back out of an engagement, you feel very

differently depending on whether they have to go
to a relative's funeral or whether they "have" to
go to someone else's party.

Best wishes,
Ericka