Though only a month ago we entered the Stu healthy, tanned, and rested, a cacophony of coughs now rings through hallways. We, the Senior Editorial Board, have endured both strep and an array of colds. Each year, particularly within the close quarters of dorms, back-to-school season seems to be a bundle deal with cold, flu, and COVID-19 season.
Much of this rapid spread is likely due to the long hours we spend squished indoors, speaking across the Harkness table. But every one of these outbreaks likely begins with a student or faculty member showing up for class sick. Given Milton students’ packed schedules and fast-paced courses, students may feel pressure to sit through an Honors Biology lecture with a fever rather than miss a discussion and fall behind. Especially when classes meet only three times each week, missing one can feel like a significant loss.
However, multiple studies, including a Norwegian 2010 study by Vergard Johansen, have suggested that presenteeism—the practice of being present at work or school even when unwell—does more harm than good, both to the productivity of the person sick and to the surrounding individuals subsequently vulnerable to illness. According to a 2018 study by the non-profit RAND, the average productivity loss when a person attends work sick is 20%.
But in order for students to feel comfortable staying home when they need to, we must place support systems at the peer-level and take advantage of pre-existing school-wide resources.
The first and perhaps most important layer of sickness support must come from us students. Each class should develop its own, simple way for students to reach out to each other—likely a full-class group chat—so a sick student can quickly understand the content they’ve missed. When a classmate asks for notes, respond promptly and usefully. Tap into your creativity; find unique solutions for unique absence-related problems. For instance, when Editor-in-Chief Darby Yang ’27 missed her Craft of Non-fiction writing workshop due to illness, a peer recorded the Harkness dialogue of the workshop, while Yang’s teacher, Tarim Chung, helped physically deliver her classmates’ written feedback back to the dorm.
Use Extra Help blocks as intended—to get help from your teachers. Retake a quiz, or discuss with your teacher the work from a previous class. Since the 2024-25 school year, Extra Help Block has become a standalone slot in our schedules, no longer overlapping with Club Block 2. We should treat it as such: a designated period to get help. Students should take full advantage of opportunities to discuss with their teachers and ask for feedback, rather than mulling over the same sentence alone (or with AI) for hours. Many teachers are often more than happy to help, especially if they’re on duty in the dorms or other buildings on campus. Of course, their availability also depends on the student being proactive and scheduling meetings ahead of time, rather than surprising the teacher on the last evening before an essay is due.
We recognize that in an environment like Milton, taking the time to care for yourself can feel near impossible. Still, the costs of pushing too hard and infecting others in the process far outweigh the benefits, and having more support systems in place can mitigate the potential consequences of a day spent resting. Do your grades, peers, and throats a favor and STAY HOME if you’re sick!