You Better Show Up If You Want That "A"
College classes come in all shapes and sizes. Some have the potential to inspire us, and others become the reason why we pulled an all-nighter on Thursday. As different as all these classes may seem, there are aspects of our classes that we have all experienced. There's always a final, there's always that student who talks too much, and there's usually some kind of attendance policy.
It is worthwhile to sometimes step back and examine the effects that our classes have on us. It is easy to ignore the structure of our classes and just accept their realities. Attendance policies deserve some thought because they impact our everyday lives and our grades. As students, the grades we receive in a class can mean a lot. They matter if grad school is on the horizon, they are the reason why scholarships are given or taken away, and they are the only way to measure our success as students in a quantified way.
Grades matter to many of us and if attendance policies are going to affect them, we should think about what that means. The main question that they raise is: who are they benefitting? The students who don't want to show up but are forced to? Or the students who want to go to class and now can't have a single day off without losing points?
Image Courtesy: Town & Country
Not all attendance policies are created equal. They can be taken every day with a sign-in sheet, a TopHat question response, or they can even come in the way of a dreaded pop reading quiz. But of all these policies force us to show up and never take a day off. That is, you can take a day off – usually at the expense of your grade. Being rewarded for showing up to class is not a bad thing, and many professors offer a perfect attendance bonus at the end of the semester, but is it really necessary in college where we're all supposed to be adults?
Professors are the ones who decide on these policies, and they may have more of an individualistic perspective of attendance. They may subscribe to the mentality that, as college students, we are adults and therefore do not need to be forced to come to class. They can believe that our payments to the school and interest in their material should be incentive enough to show up to class. These professors save themselves from the distractions of students who do not want to be there, and they see no value in forcing students who do not want to be in class to go.
Other Professors may see attendance as a personal responsibility to show that they are doing their jobs to the best of their ability. These professors use an attendance policy to communicate that they do want every student to show up to their class. These professors do not care if taking attendance means a little extra grading on their end. They will happily grade some more if it means more students are going to their classes and receiving the material. These are the professors that will keep a record of you, and they might even reach out if they do not see you in class for a while.
We've all had professors that fall somewhere along that spectrum. We've all had classes that we've enjoyed and hated. College classes should not be all about grades, but that can be hard when it feels like grades are the only things we have to measure our performance. There will never be one right or wrong way to teach a class. It may be good to get points for showing up or it may be annoying to never miss a class without sacrificing points. There is no correct answer, but attendance policies impact our grades, and they are worth thinking about as a student.
Strike Out,
Writer: Ana Monticelli
Editors: Giselle Parks and Savannah Tindall
Tallahassee