Skipping at WHS

Skipping at WHS

Daniela Lopez and Mia Alvarez

 

Several students at, not only Waltham High School,  but many surrounding schools, have problems with skipping classes. Many opinions are associated with students who skip class. Some of them include that student attitude is bad, careless, or disrespectful. This is not necessarily always the case. 

 

We used class time to walk around the school and find students who were skipping or have skipped classes before. We found 17 students in just one class period. We interviewed them, and promised to keep their identities anonymous. In the data we collected, 60% of students said they skip class because they don’t enjoy their classes. When speaking to Student 1 they stated, “I don’t feel interested in any of my classes.” This seems to be a common theme in many students at Waltham High. A frequent phrase we heard was “I don’t care.” Students just simply do not care about school and dislike it. 

 

A lot of students we interviewed seemed really tired, unmotivated and unhappy. We think

this might be part of the problem. If students are feeling down, this might cause them to feel like there’s no point in going to class or doing his or her best. 

 

We also interviewed a faculty member, Mr. Braggs, Associate Principal of the class of 2024. According to Mr. Braggs, “between the four  [associate principals]  we probably get about 40 cut-slips a day, but this doesn’t reflect everyone who’s cutting class.” We were curious about his insight on why he thinks students skip class. He answered, “I think students skip class because they don’t have a connection to the class, teacher and content.” He elaborated that students don’t feel engaged in the work and don’t believe that the lessons they learn in class affect them.  

 

“We gotta make the students feel wanted,” is a statement he strongly believes in. When we questioned what he thinks about the students who skip class or leave school he said, “I’m worried about them. Why do you feel like you have to leave?” He added that students go home to smoke or drink and that he was concerned for their mental health and state of mind. 

 

When talking about skipping, we also wanted to know what Mr. Braggs thought could be done to prevent so many students from skipping. He took a moment and then answered, “Well, we need to continue relationship building with students, we need to review hall monitoring, whether we hire people or have staff do it.” He emphasized that he didn’t want to go to such an extent as to hire people to watch students. 

 

To conclude the interview, Mr. Braggs wanted all students to know that, “We want you in class and if you’re not going to class, have a conversation with your teacher. Make the connection.”