Every day at five in the morning as the alarm clock goes off, it’s a constant struggle to get out of bed. What if school had a reward for attendance? Would that make the struggle any easier? At our school there is a gold card system; if a student has zero absences they are awarded with the one and only gold card. However, a gold card is not worth it if you aren’t allowed to miss school for a doctor’s appointment or family emergency.

A gold card is an incentive given to students at the end of every quarter which allows them to miss a day of school without counting as an actual absence. However, the problem with gold cards is a student has to have perfect attendance. If a student has a doctors appointment or other emergency which causes them to miss school they lose the opportunity for a gold card.

“A gold card is earned for perfect attendance which means a student has to be on time and can’t be late,” Attendance Aide Amy Corson said.

Sometimes doctors only have certain times available. Health and family should be more important than missing school. It’s not their fault for missing class.

“If a student has an appointment and no other absences they should still be given the option of a gold card because it isn’t in their control to have an appointment,” junior Madeline V. said.

Perfect attendance is much harder than it seems. What if their mom scheduled an appointment for the day before the quarter was over but they didn’t miss a day before that? How is that fair to them? It isn’t their fault.

“As a high schooler my mom still schedules my appointments; it’s not in my control when they’re scheduled, so why should I be punished?” junior Kaitlyn Carmichael said.

So in that case, receiving a gold card isn’t worth it if you aren’t allowed to go to the doctors.