Departments, professors should drop attendance policies

High school is for children. College is for men and women.

While it doesn’t always seem to play out that way in reality, we do expect vastly more choice and responsibility when we transition from the former to the latter. In college, we are wholly responsible for our own success, if we weren’t already — no parental homework help, no “lousy public school system” to blame.

Of course, freedom to succeed means freedom to fail, and that’s why professors and departments should stop keeping track of who’s coming to class and who’s not.

Is regular attendance truly required for success in a course? If so, why compel attendance at all? A bad grade is a bad grade regardless of whether it is due to one too many absences or failure to comprehend the material. If a student misses a large number of classes and still manages to succeed in a course, there is as much a problem with the course as there is with the student.

But wouldn’t a class without an attendance policy allow lazy students to stay enrolled at the expense of studious ones? Unfortunately, that already happens. Simply walk into a lecture and count the number of laptops opened to Facebook, ESPN or YouTube. I would prefer those students not show up at all.

No part of a student’s grade should be attendance-based. There are many components that should go into a final grade. Punctuality is not one of them. It does not directly relate to course competency — it’s a life skill. Students who consistently skip class will likely see their grades fall to various other causes.

Professors frazzled by counting pupils, making sure attendance lists get to everyone, reconciling and negotiating absences and inspecting suspicious doctors’ notes would be frazzled no more.

Perhaps the strongest argument against attendance, however, is that students are consumers. As a nonresident, I pay $15,000 per semester in tuition alone. That’s like buying a Ford Fiesta twice a year for four years. If I want to buy eight Fiestas and float them into Lake Monroe, that’s my call.

I’m pretty good about going to class, to the point where I can remember each time I have missed one at IU: once from to illness, once due to forgetfulness and five times to visit my girlfriend.

Of course there were other days when I felt ill and days when I had something personal or pressing going on that frankly would have been better uses of my time. But it simply wouldn’t have been worth it to get that dreaded third — sometimes second — absence.

So how do you get students to go to class if it’s not required? It’s not difficult. My Greek history professor sprinkles pop quizzes into his lectures. Last semester, my communications professor incorporated his lectures into the exams and chose not to post his notes. Better yet, he didn’t simply lecture from the book. He lectured from his own research and insight.

The benefit of self-compelled attendance is still more obvious in the languages. The Spanish department, which has a mandatory attendance policy, should take note of the fact that in order to succeed in its courses, one generally has to use the language on a regular basis in the first place.

Attendance policies should reflect the voluntary, purchase-based nature of college and the expected maturity of college students. Doing away with them will allow students and professors more flexibility, encourage professors to improve their lectures and spur students to attend class out of a sense of responsibility rather than compulsion.

­— danoconn@indiana.edu