Should absences for protesting be excused?

There are some schools out there that have suggested that protesting should be treated as excused absences. I don't mind this change if properly executed, but there are definitely ways in which this could cause serious problems.

Before I go any further, let me explain my own preference. Schools are holding children against their will. You should not need permission from schools to engage in a life outside of the schools. If you are passionate about an issue and intend to join a protest, this should be your choice. It should not be up to the schools. Similarly, you should have a right to miss school for numerous other reasons such as health (including mental health) or independent educational pursuits. Even an entertainment opportunity that you would not otherwise have should not be inhibited by authoritarian figures. The schools should not be able to dictate what is important to you. They should not be able to arbitrarily assign a status of excused and unexcused absences based on their own values.

My big concern with excusing absences for protesting is that I struggle to see how schools would implement the policy in a manner that is not too controlling. How do you determine if a student was protesting? Do you simply take their word for it? Do you need some kind of proof?

Another problem comes down to what qualifies as a protest. Would an Antifa protest devolving into a riot qualify? How about just you and a classmate holding up signs to counter a well-publicized protest? More than likely, the schools would need to know the protest being supported to ensure that it qualifies, but that brings subjectivity into the mix. Would a school treat a protest in favor of increasing school funding the same as protesting the tendency of schools to exploit children?

Child exploitation is where this really gets messy. Schools should not be able to dictate what causes their students believe in. It's nearly impossible to implement the policies in a manner that doesn't cause any problems in this regard. We need to ensure that whether or not a student is allowed to protest is not contingent on the schools supporting their cause.

I can't imagine a situation in which all students truly feel that they have an equal right to protest regardless of the views of the schools. Even if you eliminated the concept of excused and unexcused absences, there is a chance that the schools will find out about participation. This ultimately means that protests among students will always be skewed towards the schools' views. As I have repeatedly stated, our schools promote a culture of fear. Students are less likely to contradict the views of their teachers, and they are more likely to say what their teachers want them to say. There could even be situations in which students would protest against their own causes in hopes of getting on their teachers' good sides. If we are going to embrace student protests, we need to minimize what the schools know.

This also raises similar concerns to those I have expressed regarding lowering the voting age. Even without a voice, students are being manipulated to support the views of their teachers. If we lowered the voting age, we would effectively incentivize this form of child exploitation. I can't imagine teachers forgoing an opportunity to influence the causes their students support if we excused absences for protesting.

I'm not against giving students a voice, but we need to make sure that we are really giving students a voice rather than amplifying the voice of exploitative teachers. There are three things that I would really want to see if we want to excuse children for protests. The first is something that I have already suggested. Schools need to develop policies to address child exploitation.

The second item for supporting student protests is to ensure that approval for an excused absence must come from someone who is not nor has the potential to be in a position of influence over the student. The final item is that teachers should not even be informed that the absence is due to a protest. If they knew, they might makes guesses about the cause or pay closer attention to protests in the news. The bottom line here is that teachers who are in a position to retaliate need to be as disconnected from student protests as possible.