Cutting Classes

The term “cutting classes” is the practice of missing a designated class without permission. Another slang term for avoiding class attendance is “skipping class” the official word for an intentional, unauthorized absence from class is “truancy.” Truancy is any intentional unauthorized or illegal absence from compulsory education. It is absences caused by students of their own free will, and usually does not refer to legitimate “excused” absences, such as ones related to medical conditions. Truancy is usually explicitly defined in the school’s handbook of policies and procedures. Some children whose parents claim to homeschool have also been found truant in the United States. Another term for truancy is also skipping class Students who attend school but do not go to classes are considered cutting class.

In some schools, cutting class may result in not being able to graduate or to receive credit for class attended, until the time lost to truancy is made up through a combination of detention, fines, or summer school. In the United States truancy regulations are generally enforced by school officials under the context of parental responsibility, new automated calling systems allow the automated notification of parents when a child is not marked present in the computer and where law enforcement officers are present, the fine for, “playing hooker” can range from $250 to as much as $500. About 12,000 students were ticketed for truancy in 2008 in Los Angeles, Many states provide for the appointment of local truancy officers who have the authority to arrest habitually truant youths and bring them to their parents or to the school they are supposed to attend. Many states also have te power to revoke a student’s driver’s license or permit. Where it exists, a school truancy officer is often a constable or sheriff, concurrently.

Background of the Study
There was a time when cutting classes was not an option for students at NC State. It was no different from high school in that class attendances was compulsory.

That is until a group of engineering students set out to change that in 1939, following a period of student unrest over how Chancellor J.W. Harrelson treaded them. “Sensitive to outside criticism, and determined that he knew what was good for the students even when they did not, Harrelson promoted policies at the college that many students compared to high school or military regulations,” according to North Carolina State University: A Narrative History, by Alice Elizabeth Reagan

So on this day in 1939, the Student Welfare Committee went on record as “being heartily in favor” of a proposal by Tau Beta Pi, an engineering honor society, to establish something known as a Dean’s List at State College, according to an account in the Technician. The Dean’s List would recognize all juniors and seniors with a cumulative average of a “B” or better, and exempt them from the rule requiring compulsory class attendance. (There were apparently rules in place that allowed for a limited number of class cuts for all students, regardless of their scholastic standing.)

But the proposal needed the approval of the faculty before it could go into effect have always looked upon the Engineering School as an institution of higher learning and not as a penitentiary. It has always seemed to me that after a man has been here for two years, if he does not have enough send to attend his classes regularly, we are spending our time trying to educate some rather worthless material.

Apparently van Leer’s colleagues in the faculty agreed, as they approved the proposal about five weeks later, saying that students who maintained an 85 average would be placed on a new Dean’s List and allowed unlimited class cuts.

Significance of the Study
This research paper is significant to us because it reminds us of the effects of cutting classes.

This study is important to the following groups of people:
Parents: They will be able to guide their children so that they will stop cutting their class. Teachers: They will be able to discipline their students and at the same time remind them of the negative effects of this in their study. Students: They will be able to know the negative effects of cutting classes.

Definition of Terms

Constable: Is a peace officer with limited policing authority, typically in a small town

Sheriff: Is a law-enforcement officer of a county or other civil subdivision of a state who is responsible for keeping the peace

Detention: It is a maintenance of a person in custody or confinement or a form of punishment in which a pupil is detained after school Truancy: The act of staying away from school without good reason