Should College Attendance Be Mandatory Essay - 796 Words

Should college students be required to attend class through mandatory attendance policies? Should professors deduct points for students who miss more than a given number of absences? This can be a heated debate between students and instructors, and between instructors with different opinions as well. Here are some arguments on both side. Arguments in Favor of Mandatory Attendance Policies One of the main arguments in favor of requiring attendance is that good attendance is needed to develop a strong sense of community in a classroom, and to foster a healthy sense of class participation. For instructors who choose to stick with the old lecture model, this isnt an issue. However, many instructors opt to have a participatory classroom†¦show more content†¦Arguments Against Mandatory Attendance Policies One of the biggest argument against attendance policies is that they are patronizing and fail to treat students as adults. Children are forced by law to attend school, but adults are not. And if you treat people like children, they may be more likely to act like children. Related to this is one of the students biggest complains about attendance policies. Hey, I paid to take this class, argues a typical student. I can choose whether or not I want to be here. One reason many instructors dislike mandatory attendance policies is because they can be a good deal of work to enforce, and they put the teacher in the role of police officer. Whenever you have rules, people try to argue their way around them, rightfully or not. Instructors find themselves dealing with a stream of appeals from students who claim (rightly or wrongly) to have legitimate excuses for missing class. They also find themselves dealing with long lists of students at the end of the semester who claim they were in class and forgot to sign the attendance sheet on this day or that-- a problem that can be solved by making students 100% responsible for signing the sheet each day no matter what, but this can be rather draconian. Although many instructors applaud mandatory attendance policies because they encourage participation, others question the value of forced participation. Students who dont really want to be there-- andShow MoreRelatedRachel Osmans Essay : Should Class Attendance Be Mandatory?805 Words   |  4 Pagessemester, all college students ponder the same question about their new classes. Will attendance be mandatory? Many college professors account class attendance as a reasonable portion of a student’s final grade, but opposing students acclaim that attendance should be a choice rather than a requirement. Because they are on the university level, scholars should hold the responsibility of deciding whether or not attendance is necessary. Rachel Osman’s argument â€Å"Should Class Attendance Be Mandatory? StudentsRead More Against Mandatory Attendance Policies in College Essay713 Words   |  3 Pages Mandatory Attendance Policies While studying or even registering for a class presents a challenge to some college students, the greatest obstacle remains, going to class. Attending college is supposed to signify a new found freedom to make many important choices regarding education without high school mandatory attendance policies. However, students everywhere are coming to the staggering realization that college is not too different from high school. Teachers still take class roll and studentsRead MoreMandatory Attendance1104 Words   |  5 Pageshis or her college career, that question is ‘go to class, or lose points?’† There are college and university professors that are either starting to or have been making the class attendance mandatory for the benefit of the students and himself or herself. This decision has materialized because of the increasing number of drop-outs and failing students, just because they rarely attend classes. Even most faculty members, who do not require attendance by their students, encourage attendance in a varietyRead MoreHigh School And College Campuses947 Words   |  4 Pagesand punishment programs can be enforced in high school and college campuses to discourage and prevent: extensive use of alcohol to the point of alcohol poisoning potentially leading to the death of the individual(s), prevention of reckless sexual behavior, date rape and other sexual violence. By enforcing more and effective programs through means of education, prevention and punishment the frequency of these actions in high schools and college campuses will decrease substantially. Furthermore, all ofRead MoreShould Class Attendance Be Optional to University Students? Essay1009 Words   |  5 Pagesfor those who want to acquire knowledge from colleges and universities. While registering for a college course seems to be no longer complicated, there still remains an obstacle that has been triggered so much controversy in academic environment: mandatory attendance policy . This policy, which is imposed by some schools or some professors, requires that college student must attend class regularly enough or their exam papers will be extracted some attendance points (that usually count for about 15 orRead MoreThe Is For Absent By Chris Piper880 Words   |  4 PagesChris Piper argues that students’ absences should not be reflected in their final grades. Piper writes about his experience with what he considers an unfair attendance policy. He did well on tests and projects, however, due to his numerous absences he received a low final grade. He writes that unlike in a job, where attendance is mandatory, in college it’s a choice of a paying student. Piper also writes that when standardized test scores are evaluated, attendance of preparatory courses is not consideredRead MoreGraduation Speech : College Attendance1882 Words   |  8 PagesEnglish 101-005 18 December 2015 Encouraging College Attendance College class attendance differentiates college from high school. In most high schools, class attendance is mandatory every day while college class attendance can vary. Some professors make class attendance mandatory by basing a percentage of the grade on attendance, while others feel that it is not necessary and rather up to the student. Professors can strongly encourage class attendance by having assignments due every class, or byRead MoreKeeping Them : Does Anyone Win?843 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"Nobody Has to Go to School If They Don’t Want To†, Roger Sipher argues that if compulsory attendance rules were abolished students who actually wanted to learn in school would receive the education they deserve. In the beginning, Sipher points out that â€Å"the decline in standardized test scores is an indicator that American education in in trouble.† He states one reason for the crisis is that â€Å"the mandatory attendance laws force many kids to attend school that don’t even wish to be there.† These studentsRead MoreArt Is All Around Us Essay1439 Words   |  6 Pagesthousands of years, however, as the years go by, colleges have pushed aside the arts. Some colleges put a few â€Å"introduction to art† classes as optional elections, and others have ignored the fine arts altogether. However, it is essential that the arts be part of every college student’s education. Throughout history, people have appreciated and respected the arts, yet today it is something looked at as an option which people can choose to take. In college, you are obligated to take classes like, historyRead MoreSports Are More Important than Education1484 Words   |  6 Pagestotal of 15.6 million undergraduate college students attended school in search of a higher level of education (How Many?). In spring of 2013, only 14,473,884 students attended an American college or university, constituting a decrease of 1,126,116 students compared to 2007 (College Enrollment ). One reason for the decrease is that some students do not have any plan for after high school, however most student-athletes do. It is often said that education should come before anything else, an example