College Attendance

Posted by Naomi Rockler-Gladen Oct 12, 2006

Okay, students, I don’t like to sound preachy. But as your friendly resident professor, I’m here to remind you of how very important attendance is in college. Attendance is the single easiest thing you can do to succeed, and lack of attendance is the single easiest thing you can do to fail. Show up, pay attention, take decent notes, and you’re more than halfway there.

I'm in a grumpy mood about attendance because I gave an exam today at 8 a.m. I don’t have an attendance policy in this class, and about half of my students show up regularly. This really hit home today when I walked into class with my exams in hand, and the classroom was completely full! I thought I was in the wrong room.

Now, I know there are extremely tempting reasons to skip class, especially at 8 a.m., and the most tempting reason is the desire to sleep. Believe me, I understand, as I ‘m the mom of a toddler who rarely sleeps through the night, and I bet I’m more tired than many of my students. And there are other good reasons to miss class. You’re sick. You have a family emergency. You have a test in another class. You’re recovering from a bad breakup. Your PlayStation is beckoning. Your roommate wants to play Frisbee. You have a hangover from the night before. You hate the class with every ounce of your being.

I understand. I was a student once too. And sometimes missing class is unavoidable. But the bottom line is very straightforward: if you care about your grade and want to have a meaningful education, going to class is mandatory, and that means all or most of the time. There’s no way around it.