17 Absence Excuses

Students may be absent for a variety of reasons ranging from serious to the creative and amazing but true variety.

1. Open school night which I encourage as a former school teacher.

2. Jury duty.

3. Emergency medical.

4. Child birth. I had one dedicated student who showed up with her “excuse.” She was an excellent student so I did not mind at all.

5. Female problems.

6. Asthma attack.

7. I had one student who decided to take a vacation for two weeks but had the good grace to quit when he broke his foot.

8. Another student started a new business and could not show up after the third week.

9. Another student missed 2/3 of the three one hour class week sessions for a few weeks because of a job until he realized he was not passing.

10. One student missed three class sessions because he felt too ill to come to class, not share whatever he had, but did not go to the doctor.

11. Overslept.

12. This did not happen to me but more than one professor claims receiving an e-mail that it was to nice a day to go class.

13. I had one student who never showed up because she was too busy try to make money to pay for the class she informed me by cell phone!

14. Training at work.

15. Work.

16. Illness of a child or parent.

17. Dropping someone off at the airport.

18. Automobile accident.

19. Automobile stolen.

20. Screwed up on calendar.

21. Weather.

22. Monumental traffic problem.

23. Business trip.

24. Play a music gig.

25. Change in work schedule.

26. Religious holiday. I did teach at one private college attended predominately by Catholic and evangelical students that treated Easter as a holiday that did not exist! Some of my Jewish students try to get excused from certain days but because I am also Jewish I know that these are days that not obligatory to take off and they show up.

27. Death in the family. I have had students that have gone off for six weeks in some distant country to take part in the mourning.

28. Arrest.

29. Fight a parking ticket.

30. Had to go to a child’s school to take care of a problem.

31. College competency test of some kind.

32. Had to see another professor.

33. Long test from another class or take a make-up test for another class.

34. Taking part in student government.

35. Going on out of town road trip for the school, usually athletics. Colleges are demanding that the students attend your class and have your permission to go. Most athletes that I have in my classes are excellent students.

36. Dental problems.

37. Surgery of some kind.

38. Influenza.

39. Allergy attack

40. Confused on the schedule because the school decided Monday would be a Wednesday..