Should online students be excused from school when they're sick?

Question

This is my first year of doing online school so I'm still figuring stuff out. I'm currently sick with a horrible case of strep (voice is completely gone, high fevers, throwing up (when i actually eat)). One of my teachers emailed me to see why I had a missing assignment (i'm usually a really diligent student) and I told her that I was sick, and she said that if I scanned in my doctors notes, I'd actually be excused from my assignments. I thought that it was really cool and didn't think online schools did this. 
I told one of my friends about this and she said that it was unfair and I shouldn't be excused because there aren't any other kids I could infect by doing my work, and that me being sick doesn't affect my ability to use my computer. 
So I thought this would be a fun debate. What do you guys think?

Accepted Answer

I think it depends. If you can still use social media then you should still be doing school work.

Answer

I work from home 4 days a week and only go into the office once. I have an important career. Most often if I'm under the weather or have a stomach bug, I work through it thankful to have my own bathroom nearby and a teapot on standby.

Today though I'm very sick. Strep and fever and dizzy nausea, the works. I'm really struggling and took a few hours off. Sometimes you can't work through the sick, home or not. No shame in that. Sometimes we get legitimately sick

Answer

I mean if you have a head cold, nah. If you're sick with strep (like you are) yeah. Which is why i clicked depends.
Although in public schools if I miss I still have to catch up, I've never been excused from an assignment

Answer

It depends. Sometimes when you are sick you barely have any energy, even just to sit up in bed. Throwing up, headaches, etc all make working on assignments difficult. I understand giving extensions on assignments for these situations, but not excusing them all together.

Answer

Well.. being sick CAN affect your ability to use a computer sometimes, or do anything much at all for that matter. I think that should be excused. If you teacher wants to give you an extension even if you could've still managed to do the work while sick, I think that's their call 🤷‍♂️

Answer

Depends on the class and illness. For example, I had a surgery that left me bedridden for 5 days and high on hydrocodone as prescribed so I wouldn't pass out from the pain every time I woke up, so obviously I couldn't complete any type of assignment logically and had no issue with getting it excused with a doctor's note online. On the other, I had a friend who constantly got out of online assignments that consisted of 3 question quizzes every time she had a ~cold~. Eventually she got called out on it and moved back to a public school but I don't agree with excusing online absences for minor colds/coughs as you're likely at home anyway and don't have the excuse of not wanting to spread it around to others, and might just need a time extension.

Answer

I’ve earned both my bachelors and masters degrees online. It’s always been the policy that you can get extensions on work and things like that if you’re very sick as long as you have a doctors note. Some professors don’t ask for a note at all as long as you’re keeping them updated on how you’re feeling and things like that. But I’ve never used it for sick purposes. My husbands military so I’ve gotten a few extensions for when we moved cross country or when my daughter was born and things like that. Sometimes life happens. I absolutely think it’s fair to get extensions on your work for things like that.

Answer

I used to be online school (I still take one class but am now actual homeschooled because of problems with the teachers and the program) but when I got sick they had no choice but to let me take time off. All of the assignments are always there and don't go away until you submit them so even if they told me no and I couldn't work, I just wouldn't work.

Answer

Yes.. I've had strep many times in my life.. It's hard to do or concentrate on anything sometimes. Some cases are more severe than others.

Answer

If you're well enough to be using your phone/social media then you are well enough to lay in bed with your laptop and get your work done. If you are so sick that you can't function then I can understand a small extension on the due date.

Should online students be excused from school when they're sick?

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