A couple of weeks ago, I became quite ill, and my first thought was, “I need to make it to class.” That Tuesday, I went to all my classes against the advice of my friends and family because I couldn't bear the thought of falling behind on my work. So there I was, at 8 p.m. in a David Rittenhouse Laboratory recitation, barely able to keep up with my teaching assistant. All I could think at that moment was, “How will I be able to make the fifteen-minute walk back home?”
In a competitive environment like Penn, it may seem that any setback, even if it’s something as important as one’s health, becomes an inconvenience. Following that Tuesday, I chose (albeit somewhat stubbornly) to miss two days of class. Within those two days, amidst my diet of Ensures and Tylenol, I fell behind on what felt like encyclopedic volumes of reading.
Among the “hope you get better soon” sentiments I received, there were a few that stood out to me, particularly ones along the lines of “I don’t know what I’d do if I ever got sick at Penn” and “I’m scared of how much I would fall behind.” Has the academic excellence most students strive to achieve become so potent that it has overpowered our concern for our well-being? Think about it. How many times have you given up hours of sleep to be able to cram one more unit for a midterm? Have you ever skipped breakfast because you were late to class? Or decided to drink one more energy drink, one more cup of coffee to be able to finish a paper by the dreaded 11:59 p.m. deadline? It seems we justify an array of harmful habits in the name of academic success at Penn. In our seemingly eternally busy schedules, finding extra time to attend to other, far more pertinent matters can be complicated. But what happens when you have no other choice?
Of course, the easy answer would be to tend to your health, but what if our course load doesn’t allow for it? Within those two days of sickness, I still handed in assignments to avoid getting zeros. I texted classmates to get the lecture notes for my missed classes. I sent in my Course Action Notices. I followed the usual routine expected of us. Yet, I couldn’t help but wonder, is there an easier way to go through all this? As much as I could try to keep up, there are still evident setbacks by missing class. For example, one of my professors doesn’t upload slides or allow note-taking on computers. While I somewhat understand the benefits of such an approach, when I asked for a classmate’s notes, I accepted the fact that they would be incomplete. Although I could meet with the professor outside of class, the amount of work I had missed in the span of 48 hours left me little time to visit during office hours.
One instance stuck out to me, however. That very Tuesday, I got to my 10:15, where my professor announced they would start synchronous Zoom lectures in case a student couldn’t attend class physically. The professor’s reasoning? They knew a lot of students were getting sick these past few weeks and didn’t want students risking their healths just to keep up.
Why couldn’t more courses implement such measures? I understand the process is not as feasible for a small, 12-person seminar, but if the course is composed of over 100 students, shouldn’t such protocols be in place? In a previous course of mine, the professor stopped doing class recordings because students would stop attending lectures. While I understand this worry, the benefits of providing alternate methods in which students can learn while still taking care of themselves should override said worry. Moreover, not providing these alternatives may prompt some students to attend class even when sick, placing other students and the professors themselves at increased risk of illness.
If these measures are not in place, aren’t we ultimately promoting an environment where students prioritize their academics over their well-being? While such arguments may seem trivial to some, think about how many classmates you know who have been sick. Think about the possibility of yourself getting sick at Penn. Since October 2024, the CDC has estimated 21 to 41 million cases of the flu within the United States. The threat of being under the weather is clear and dismissing it by not enacting the necessary protocols out of convenience ultimately does more harm than good.
BEATRIZ BÁEZ is a College sophomore studying mathematics and political science from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Her email is beabaez@sas.upenn.edu.
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