# Homeroom



## gurseal

How do high schools in your country verify your child's attendance for the day? 

In my neck of the woods, the traditional way is through a homeroom period of a few minutes usually before the first class of the day.


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## mgwls

In Argentina, a few minutes after the class has started, perhaps half an hour later, who we call _the preceptor_ comes to the classroom and begins to read a list with the names of all the students of the course, who, when they hear their name said aloud, have to raise their hand and say out loud something to let _the preceptor_ know that they are present, such as _¡presente!_ (I'm present), or _¡acá!_ (I'm here), etc.
I don't know if here this practice varies from high school to high school, in any case this is how it was in all high schools I know.


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## danielfranco

I haven't been inside a high-school in the past twenty years, so all I have is hearsay. My kid told me that he was tagged in the ear with a GPS-enabled beacon the moment he turned thirteen, so that the government, the school district and movie rental places can track his every move. Parents have to hack into the system to access that information, because it's considered confidential and protected, so is anti-constitutional to let parents limit the children's freedom of movement.

I suppose the school checks the tracking satellite's logs to see if my child was in school when he was supposed to be there.

[Or, I don't know]

D


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## Trisia

We only use GPS on parents, to see whether their excuse for having missed the parent-teacher conference was real or they actually went out partying.


Seriously now: back in high-school every teacher (so this was at the beginning of each class) would either ask for a list of the absentees, or say our names (we were supposed to answer "present" or "here"). The idea was that if a student was absent but not marked as such (it's a lot easier here to sneak away and skip a class than in most Western countries -- which I can tell you was a lot of fun, fun, fun!) and something happened to him/her during class, the professor was responsible. Quite nasty.

I think they still do that in most high-schools here.


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## alexacohen

We were called by name back in my high school times just as Trisia said. 
My kids tell me they don't do such a thing any longer; but as they are always seated on the same seat in the same classroom if a pupil is missing he or she is inmediately discovered. 
Or should I say not discovered?


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## Asr

noticed as absent maybe?


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## Miguelillo 87

Well in Mexico is the same story as in Argentina, in high school you have diferent teachers, so each one has the optio to "pasar a lista" or not; if you don't answer when the professor say your name, you have an absence, and that's all. The same happens in the University, in "primaria" and "secundaria"  if you are absent normally they call to your home in order to verify if you are sick or why you didn't go, well in some secundarias but in primarias always.


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## federicoft

Same here in Italy as well.

It is called _appello_ and it is a very iconic moment of the school-age. The teacher reads a list with the names of the students before the first class of the day, and each pupil is expected to raise his hand and answer _presente!_ when his name is read. If nobody answers, he's marked as absent.


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## ernest_

In Spain it is a procedure called "pasar lista", just like in Mexico & Argentina, but nowadays they only do that on special occasion. In my school, the usual thing to do was that a special student called "coordinator" was responsible for checking that everyone in their group was there, and make sure any missing person had phoned, and report otherwise. In many schools you don't even need to do this, because anyone not showing up is detected straight away.


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## xqby

We generally had designated seating charts in my high school, so the teacher could take roll without having to call names. It was taken every period, which probably added up to fifteen wasted minutes a day for the school, what with us having seven classes. Occasionally the class would have a teacher's assistant, generally an upper classman who wanted a free period to do homework, to mark it down instead. These were good people to make friends with, since you could ditch pretty easily if you asked them to mark you present before doing so. 

At my alma mater our second period was called "homeroom," and was five minutes longer than normal classes. They'd give us the daily announcements during the extra time (school sports game scores and upcoming dances, mostly) and then we'd recite the pledge of allegiance. It also determined where you would go in the case of a fire drill, and where you would take statewide tests.


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## mirx

In my experience in México, the teachers call out the names of the students at the beginning of every class, that is usually 7 or 8 times a day. Not much time is spent on this as teachers call out the names at light speed, if there are large groups each student is given a number which he will have to remember for the rest of the school year, he may be assigned different numbers in different classes. This is done at the beginning because tardies are also marked, and there's usually a 10-minute delay tolerance, after this time a student won't be allowed in the class. Similarly, a teacher who is more than 10 mintues late, is under no right to get into the room and the class is free to do with that time as they please.

If you are absent, well your absent, no one calls or wonders where you are. It is the student's responsability to attend. _What responsability can you expect of a 15 year old you may wonder_.  Well, students with 3 absentisms in a row lose the right to seat for monthly evaluations, 2 monthly evaluations missed means you will have to seat for extra-ordinary exams, which are expensive, much harder and time consuming, or -depending on the shcool- you may even be permanently suspended of the class and have to re-take the course the next year.

Also 3 tardies make up an absentism.

Fron an early age students learn how to administer their absentism allowance per month, so they know how many classes they can still skip without getting into trouble. Justified absentisms also count and there is a limit as to how many you can claim.


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## tvdxer

gurseal said:


> How do high schools in your country verify your child's attendance for the day?
> 
> In my neck of the woods, the traditional way is through a homeroom period of a few minutes usually before the first class of the day.



They sure do!  In fact, each class does so, so the school does not only you came in the morning, but also if you came later or left early.


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## Porteño

In the UK, the rollcall was during the first class every day in primary school, even though we had designated seats and the same teacher for just about every subject.
In secondary school I really can't remember, certainly I don't think the teacher called a roll since they all knew us and could quickly spot an absentee. In any case the classes never had more than 20 students at the most so keeping a check was hardly very difficult.

Every day the entire school assembled in the Big Hall for a brief religious service, after which any important notices were read out. This whole ritual didn't take much more than 5 to 10 minutes.


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## gurseal

mirx said:


> Similarly, a teacher who is more than 10 mintues late, *is under no right to get into the room* and the class is free to do with that time as they please.


mirx, does this mean that the teacher changes classes and the students stay put?


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## mirx

gurseal said:


> mirx, does this mean that the teacher changes classes and the students stay put?


 
This depends on the school, in some a teacher has a classroom and the students are the ones moving.

In most highschools in México the groups are set at the beginning of the first year, and remian that way throughout the rest of the years. This means that in many cases the students are given a room and it is the teacher who switches classrooms.


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## gurseal

mirx said:


> In most highschools in México the *groups are set at the beginning of the first year, and* *remian that way throughout the rest of the years*. This means that in many cases the students are given a room and it is the teacher who switches classrooms.


As well in my country, but only as a homeroom section.


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## Teena

We were assigned to class once you start school & you're with that class all the way to the end (obviously unless you switch schools). We had a homeroom and a homeroom teacher but we only had to go there for any special circumstance/gathering etc. For every different class(lesson)  you just move from room to room with your entire assigned class, so the attendance was taken at the start of every class.
That was Uzbekistan.

In Russia its pretty similar.

Then in Canada we had a homeroom that we were supposed to go to for 15min or so in the morning before classes. Nobody ever went though, so a few weeks into the year the whole thing is forgotten. Attendance was taken in the beginning of every class.


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## Nanon

Same in France in my school days: the rollcall ("l'appel") normally took place at the beginning of each hour - this in secondary schools (sometimes in the middle or at the end if the teacher had forgotten to take attendance or if he/she just wanted to!), and normally at the beginning of the morning and afternoon in primary.

In primary schools, there usually is a home classroom. In secondary schools, students move from room to room and sometimes teachers too, according to the subject they teach (if you teach biology, you probably won't have too many labs).


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## MadrigalTriste

danielfranco said:


> My kid told me that he was tagged in the ear with a GPS-enabled beacon the moment he turned thirteen, so that the government, the school district and movie rental places can track his every move. Parents have to hack into the system to access that information, because it's considered confidential and protected, so is anti-constitutional to let parents limit the children's freedom of movement.
> 
> I suppose the school checks the tracking satellite's logs to see if my child was in school when he was supposed to be there.


What kind of State tracks you like a wild animal before you've even done anything wrong? Did your son have to get a parent's authorization to be "tagged"? Insane.

When I went to public High School in Canada, nobody took attendance. There was minimum control over who went to class and who didn't. The philosophy was that they only want you to be there if you want to be learning. Otherwise, go do your own thing and take responsibility for your grades later. It's even more liberal than university in many places.

Edit: I will add another high school experience. St. Vincent and the Grenadines, in the Caribbean. Students from the last grade (Form 5), called "prefects," would pass by assigned classes and take attendance in the morning before classes started. They would take attendance again after lunch.


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## gurseal

MadrigalTriste said:


> When I went to public High School in Canada, nobody took attendance. There was minimum control over who went to class and who didn't. The philosophy was that they only want you to be there if you want to be learning. *Otherwise, go do your own thing and take responsibility for your grades later.* It's even more liberal than university in many places.


In my state, the courts will go after parents who do not make sure that their minor children (below age 16) attend school. After the third consecutive absence, a truant officer is informed about the absences and begins an investigation. This does not apply if the children live at least 2 miles from the nearest school and are without transportation because the children do not have to attend. This latter part is in our state code.


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## MadrigalTriste

gurseal said:


> In my state, the courts will go after parents who do not make sure that their minor children (below age 16) attend school. After the third consecutive absence, a truant officer is informed about the absences and begins an investigation. This does not apply if the children live at least 2 miles from the nearest school and are without transportation because the children do not have to attend. This latter part is in our state code.


 
Ahh, I only spent a year in a Canadian high school, and it was grade 11. Perhaps there was a different policy for younger students.


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## Chaska Ñawi

MadrigalTriste said:


> What kind of State tracks you like a wild animal before you've even done anything wrong? Did your son have to get a parent's authorization to be "tagged"? Insane.



As you grow more familiar with the WR community, you will get used to Daniel's sense of humour.   

My daughter's high school takes attendance at the beginning of each class.  In elementary school, we take attendance in the morning and again after lunch.


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## MadrigalTriste

Chaska Ñawi said:


> As you grow more familiar with the WR community, you will get used to Daniel's sense of humour.  .


 
Hehe. Well that's a relief - it's just that I heard about "tagging" before. But from someone who was a bit of a conspiracy theorist.


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## WAMORZINHO

When I was in the hight school the teacher used to call our names and we need to asnwer present, I'm here!
Sometimes in my university the teacher give us a paper to write our name. Sometimes you can see all names there, less the students name!
One day I saw James Bond in the list! Can you imagine James Bond in the Tourism University?


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## 2001nita0

In England, the teacher at the beginning of class normally calls out the names and the kids answer 'present'- this is termed 'calling the register'. Some schools will start the day also with an 'assembly' of all the students. It can involve saying a prayer if it is a religious school, or just serve to pass on information to the students. Good schools will check if absent students are at home and there is a lot of pressure on schools to reduce unauthorised absences.


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## Cheesee = Madness

Chaska Ñawi said:


> As you grow more familiar with the WR community, you will get used to Daniel's sense of humour.
> 
> My daughter's high school takes attendance at the beginning of each class.  In elementary school, we take attendance in the morning and again after lunch.


He could be quite serious. Many schools are giving people tags with their pictures on then and RFID chips inbedded in them. (Though they are not GPS chips in my opinion  they are close)

Our teachers take attendance at the begining of each class, however most of them know all of us so they just look, and don't call out our names.


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## Cabeza tuna

here the teacher in every class "pasa la lista" , they have a list with the full names and information about the students and star to ask for everyone of the students, that is very important because you can miss more that 15% of your class, some times the teachers do it more funny and ask for nicknames, last names , first name once i even have a teacher than ask about you with your  mom first name (even if you was a boy) but just for that in class they call you by your name.


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