For most college students, 8 a.m. is really early. Most of the motivation students have for registering as soon as possible every semester is to avoid taking classes at the crack of dawn. In fact, it’s likely the two leading causes of depression among college students are “I’ve got an essay due tomorrow” and “I’ve got an 8 o’clock.”
The misery of early classes is magnified by the mandatory attendance imposed by many professors on campus. While some teachers don’t even take roll, some only allow a certain amount of absences (usually 3 or 4) before students’ grades are negatively affected. Some even start docking points from your final grade from the first time you show up late to class.
It doesn’t make sense.
Some students (myself included) generally don’t get much from classroom discussion, and learn the information required for classes on their own by reading and doing exercises outside of classes.
My grades don’t suffer for this. I do well on all my homework and get good test scores. In fact, my time that would be spent in class would really be better spent reading the textbook. In classes where my grade takes a hit when I don’t show up, this is often exactly what I do.
This issue is made worse by the amount of information from class lectures teachers are posting online. In some cases, teachers post slideshows of their entire lectures on the Internet. I’m not complaining, it is a great resource to have. But, if I can look at the lectures on my own time, and do well on all my class work, why should I have to come to class at 8 a.m. when I’m barely awake?
I understand showing up for class is a common courtesy, and shows respect for your professor, who, regardless of whether anyone else shows up or not, has to be there. I also am not talking about classes primarily discussion and participation based, such as literature, political science and music. You can’t learn how to play a trumpet by correspondence, so please, go to class.
I also understand giving points for attendance gives help to students who may struggle, but are doing everything they can to learn the material and diligently coming to class every day to learn. To that I say: fine, give them the points. However, penalizing those excelling in the class and spend class time bored out of their mind does no one any good.
The bottom line is if students can complete all the work required to pass a class, attendance should not matter. Forcing students to come to class when they don’t need to is a waste of everyone’s time.