Picture this: It's the first day of class. An easy-A class you're only taking because your advisor is making you. Maybe you're dressed to impress, or maybe you just rolled out of bed. Whichever one applies most to you. You're teacher passed out the syllabus and, as a class, you are all going over it together. Eventually, you reach arguably the most important section of any syllabus - the grade breakdown. In that breakdown, you read, "15 PERCENT FOR ATTENDANCE." And you groan.
Whether or not attendance is a portion of a grade is something that has been up for debate for as long as I can remember. A lot of people in my generation have the mentality that whether or not you come to class should not be a part of the grade, with their reasoning being: "I'm paying tens of thousands of dollars to go to school here, I shouldn't get graded based on if I show up to class or not."
Which sounds pretty stupid to me actually. Literally, you're complaining about the easiest access to class points ever.
All you have to do is show up. Which you were already planning on doing, right?
Oh...wait. You weren't, were you? Which is actually why you're complaining. You want to be able to skip class whenever you want and not get penalized for it.
Which is a really childish mentality. You're paying those tens of thousands of dollars to get a degree, and in order to get a degree, you have to go to your classes anyway. That enough should be an incentive to attend your classes. You should want to go to class because whether you think so, or not, that class actually is relevant to your degree.
It builds work ethic, time management skills, provides a networking opportunity and counts towards your degree. Which again, is the entire purpose you're paying those tens of thousands of dollars.
Teachers take attendance to hold you accountable for your actions. It gives them a starting point for when students come in at the end of the semester whining about their grades and asking why they're failing. It helps them learn student's names and habits, so they can try to help out or understand. It's a grade booster so those students who actually do struggle with the material can still pass. Plus, it's free points.
Fifteen-to-twenty percent of your grade can be full points just by getting up and going to class. It's literally so easy.
So, yes, your teacher actually should be taking attendance. Who cares if you're an adult or not? Who cares how much money you're paying to go to school there. Who care's if the class is a gen-ed class or if it's the hardest course of your college career.
If you're whining about actually having to go to class because your teacher marks a grade for attendance, your priorities are in all the wrong places.
