Doctor's Note

There is a space. Intangible, certainly, but the effects are not.

This space attempts to answer the question of how sick a student must be to miss class.

On the one hand, we have that common sense suggests that if you have any of the following symptoms,
A fever over 100,
Too much nausea to allow you to drive,
Gushing mucus from your nose (and possibly other orifices)
The sort of cough that suggests that your lungs are fighting with their inlaws again.

...you probably should not be around people. You should be home. In bed. With fluids. And possibly homework.

On the other hand, you have the instructors who insist that the only way you're going to miss class and not have your grade suffer for it is with a doctor's note.

I don't know what most students do. I can tell you what I've done for most of my life, which is to only go see the doctor if it's plain as day I won't get better on my own. Didi once expressed, "What do I need a doctor for? All they're going to do is tell me I'm sick and charge me $400. I already know that."

This is by no means to suggest that we disrespect doctors. Rather, that we only really want to make use of them when we really need them. If I have fractured something, or maybe if I took a fastpitch to the kidney (anytime there's blood in the urine, you at least call the hospital, and drink your cranberry juice), then yes, a doctor will likely be in order. If I have a flu, well, I'm going to curl up in my bed with a giant stack of books and homework, drink enough fluids to fill Dickens' busted wine cask, and sleep. Doctor can't help a whole lot there.

And the result of that space is a certain vengeful sort of student. I'm not sure that the insist-on-a-doctor's-note* instructors realize this, but they're setting themselves up for a kind of bioterrorism.

"Gosh, I knew I wasn't feeling so hot, Mr. Keller, but I really couldn't afford to go to the doctor, so I had to come to class anyway. What's that? You'll be out sick the rest of the week? Wow, that worked out nice, maybe I'll get a chance to recuperate, too!"

Doodle-doodle-ee-doo.

_{*One of the funny things about living in this town - they will specify that the doctor cannot be a family member. :) It's a hospital community. More than half the students have parents or siblings who are Mayo staff.}