Starting freshman year, students coming into Princeton Day School are required to take Steaminar during C&C. Later, the Steaminar class is replaced with an extra science class of the level the students move into. The C&C block is just the last block of the school day. There is also the optional choice of taking PE or an art class in one of the periods. When a student has no class, the block becomes a free period. If C&C classes become excused absences, then some students may feel free to miss any class that takes place during that time. Many science classes are built on the assumption of having the C&C period to teach more topics. If there are a lot of students absent during C&C, teachers may cover significantly more topics during the earlier classes. Some topics may even go unexplained.
Furthermore, PE credits that depend on a C&C block will become less important. In this way, schools will face the dilemma of either not giving the option of achieving a PE credit during C&C or rewarding everyone who takes one in the same way, disregarding effort. Neither of these options are ideal, and there will be many students who oppose the enforcement of either. Even though the school day is extremely busy, the only truly required C&C class is the science class. This only occurs once per cycle. From this aspect, most students should be able to make some time for this one block. Even though the idea of missing a class and not having consequences may seem good, it is actually not beneficial to the students.
This opinion is shared by Upper School chemistry teacher Dr. Steven Gadd. According to Dr. Gadd, if a student is “just cutting class to see a teacher” or simply due to a desire to not go, then it would not be acceptable to miss class. This is not to say that missing a C&C class is unacceptable if there is a school-approved reason. In this way, it is important that students treat C&C classes like regular classes and only miss content with a valid reason.
In conclusion, it is clear that having the C&C classes treated as regular classes in terms of unexcused absences is positive for the students. Making time to complete the only required C&C class is actually a gain compared to the alternative of more stressful earlier classes.
