6 ms·

Heh…I once was in a state-level coding event (it was a small portion of a larger competition) where half of the test was turning in code on a CD during the comp

Heh…I once was in a state-level coding event (it was a small portion of a larger competition) where half of the test was turning in code on a CD during the competition, with the written half during the event. My CD was deemed unusable for whatever reason (it had worked on XP and Fedora 6 or 7 at home) and didn't count towards my score. I still got second in the event. I declined to continue because I couldn't trust that the judges would be able judge my submission fairly and that with half of my score missing I still got second that I didn't need to prove anything else at the cost of more after-school practice hours and wrecking my perfect attendance record during my senior year to travel to nationals.

rogerrogerr 3mo ago
Does high school attendance matter for anything? Genuine question. Always seemed like pre-college schooling always wanted you to think everything was more important long-term than it really was.
- repeekad 3mo ago
  It’s needed to get into college and that’s it, which is needed to get your first maybe second job and that’s it, which is needed to…
  - 71bw 3mo ago
    ...attendance? I landed a spot in likely the best economics uni in Poland while having 52% attendance in my final HS year, out of which perhaps 10% of the absence was due to illness.
    - Tor3 3mo ago
      It all depends on the country and the local rules, which can also change from year to year. Attendence didn't matter much, if at all, in my day, but right now it matters. Extremely so. Student's couldn't, until this year (when this was finally revised) even visit the school nurse without getting a "no attendance", which would count negatively with respect to the mandatory attendance requirement for advancing further. And even for receiving the common stipend.
- misnome 3mo ago
  It goes in your permanent Record Of Achievement! I was always told that this would be very a very important set of documents once I left school, and I am sure that I have no reason to doubt their statements!
- mghackerlady 3mo ago
  Not really, but you can get in trouble for truancy if it becomes a big problem (where I'm from, that was 3 unexcused absences or any absences without a doctor's note after 10. In practice, however, this wasn't that enforced)
- toast0 3mo ago
  Many states pay school districts based on attendance. Attendance typically correlates with classroom success. Attendance avoids truancy proceedings. One of the kids in my elementary school got a hat for perfect attendance through 6th grade. I've never seen attendance shown on a transcript though, but you could fill some space on a resume with it, especially if you have the hat to show for it.
  - rcxdude 3mo ago
    An emphasis on perfect attendance can be harmful, though, if it means students come in when they are sick and spread it to the rest of class.
jon-wood 3mo ago
I dropped out of college (the UK version, I guess equivalent to senior high school in the US) shortly after discovering that the final assessment of my Computing project would be performed by the examiner reading a printed version of the source code, without ever executing it, because the exam board were so scared of examiners computers being destroyed.
- mghackerlady 3mo ago
  When was this? If this was before virtualisation was common I can maybe understand that but any time in the last 20 years is pretty dumb and the last 10 so braindead I question if they would've been able to judge things properly
  - jon-wood 3mo ago
    Oh this was in 2000, when virtualisation was only just becoming accessible so I can get of get the justification. It still made the entire exercise in writing some software feel pointless when I knew it would never get executed by anyone but myself.
    - L_226 3mo ago
      Reminds me of Lord Vetinari from Discworld, reading sheet music instead of listening to adulterated performances by fat sweaty men squeezing the music through some tubes. Executing the code in your head removed from the nuances of hardware, CPU architecture and compiler versions seems like a virtuous pursuit (?)
      - zbentley 3mo ago
        > Executing the code in your head removed from the nuances of hardware, CPU architecture and compiler versions seems like a virtuous pursuit …and that’s how we got Java :p And stuff like Pascal, too, so it’s not all bad.
- alfiedotwtf 3mo ago
csense 3mo ago
Perfect attendance is not a good goal to aspire to. Kids force themselves (or get forced by parents) to go to school while sick, which is probably bad for their health and also risks everybody else's health.

rogerrogerr 3mo ago

Does high school attendance matter for anything? Genuine question. Always seemed like pre-college schooling always wanted you to think everything was more important long-term than it really was.

repeekad 3mo ago
It’s needed to get into college and that’s it, which is needed to get your first maybe second job and that’s it, which is needed to…
- 71bw 3mo ago
  ...attendance? I landed a spot in likely the best economics uni in Poland while having 52% attendance in my final HS year, out of which perhaps 10% of the absence was due to illness.
  - Tor3 3mo ago
    It all depends on the country and the local rules, which can also change from year to year. Attendence didn't matter much, if at all, in my day, but right now it matters. Extremely so. Student's couldn't, until this year (when this was finally revised) even visit the school nurse without getting a "no attendance", which would count negatively with respect to the mandatory attendance requirement for advancing further. And even for receiving the common stipend.
misnome 3mo ago
It goes in your permanent Record Of Achievement! I was always told that this would be very a very important set of documents once I left school, and I am sure that I have no reason to doubt their statements!
mghackerlady 3mo ago
Not really, but you can get in trouble for truancy if it becomes a big problem (where I'm from, that was 3 unexcused absences or any absences without a doctor's note after 10. In practice, however, this wasn't that enforced)
toast0 3mo ago
Many states pay school districts based on attendance. Attendance typically correlates with classroom success. Attendance avoids truancy proceedings. One of the kids in my elementary school got a hat for perfect attendance through 6th grade. I've never seen attendance shown on a transcript though, but you could fill some space on a resume with it, especially if you have the hat to show for it.
- rcxdude 3mo ago
  An emphasis on perfect attendance can be harmful, though, if it means students come in when they are sick and spread it to the rest of class.

jon-wood 3mo ago

I dropped out of college (the UK version, I guess equivalent to senior high school in the US) shortly after discovering that the final assessment of my Computing project would be performed by the examiner reading a printed version of the source code, without ever executing it, because the exam board were so scared of examiners computers being destroyed.

mghackerlady 3mo ago
When was this? If this was before virtualisation was common I can maybe understand that but any time in the last 20 years is pretty dumb and the last 10 so braindead I question if they would've been able to judge things properly
- jon-wood 3mo ago
  Oh this was in 2000, when virtualisation was only just becoming accessible so I can get of get the justification. It still made the entire exercise in writing some software feel pointless when I knew it would never get executed by anyone but myself.
  - L_226 3mo ago
    Reminds me of Lord Vetinari from Discworld, reading sheet music instead of listening to adulterated performances by fat sweaty men squeezing the music through some tubes. Executing the code in your head removed from the nuances of hardware, CPU architecture and compiler versions seems like a virtuous pursuit (?)
    - zbentley 3mo ago
      > Executing the code in your head removed from the nuances of hardware, CPU architecture and compiler versions seems like a virtuous pursuit …and that’s how we got Java :p And stuff like Pascal, too, so it’s not all bad.
alfiedotwtf 3mo ago

csense 3mo ago

Perfect attendance is not a good goal to aspire to. Kids force themselves (or get forced by parents) to go to school while sick, which is probably bad for their health and also risks everybody else's health.