Thankfully this is not the case now, but years ago when I was a classroom teacher our program (preschool - Head Start) had annual "perfect attendance" TROPHIES!!!! Three and four year old children have no say in the matter and many came to school sick. If they walked through the door, they were counted present even if we immediatly turned them around and sent them home. I had one family whose previous three children I had taught and all had gotten trophies. The youngest child was in my class and one day, outside the bathroom, she said to me, "look at my tummy!" She pulled her shirt up to reveal CHICKEN POX!! . Amazingly she had no blisters on her face so her mom sent her to school in order to get her trophy. Sadly, she had already been contagious for days prior and had infected the rest of the class (clearly this was in the days before the varicella vaccine was available). She got her trophy and I mounted a campaign to get rid of the stupid award.....