Ask any experienced Andover student: the key to surviving Winter Term is staying healthy. In addition to the discomforts of runny noses, coughing or worse, illnesses interfere with every aspect of Andover life. Although getting sick is perhaps the most dreaded aspect of Winter term, a hopefully brief illness of some kind is typical of each Andover student’s winter experience.
Being sick, however, has rarely come to mean a visit to Isham Health Center. Students compromise their overall health and well-being when they consciously avoid a place specifically named a center for health.
Skipping a visit to Isham is easy for students to rationalize. An initial thought of “I’m not that sick,” naturally pushes back a visit. Secondary to that reaction is the understanding that a trip to the health center will likely result in being given ibuprofen and Sudafed. This remedy is often the medically appropriate response to an illness, according to Dr. Amy Patel, Medical Director; nonetheless, such a response isn’t psychologically satisfying when those two medications are easily available over the counter.
Most significant, however, is the cost of missing class. Once a student falls behind, getting caught up can be challenging at best and impossible at worst, particularly when a student is missing several classes. While some teachers are accommodating, others can sometimes be inflexible when it comes to helping students return from being sick. This attitude causes students to feel naturally disinclined to go to Isham even when they feel that they need to.
Faculty should shoulder some of the blame for this Isham stigma. Students should not be so worried about missing class or studying for a test that they are willing to sacrifice their health for 45 minutes of note-taking or a night’s homework. The consequences can actually compound the problem—sick students who go to class make other students sick.
In short, solving this problem falls equally on faculty and students. Students who know they are sick enough for a visit to Isham have to feel comfortable going, and faculty must create environments in their classrooms where students won’t feel unjustly penalized for catching a cold in the middle of February.
Left unresolved, this situation promises to become sickening.
This Editorial represents the views of The Phillipian Editorial Board CXXXV
