Attendance is a touchy subject in schools. Some are against it being mandatory and negatively impacting grades, and some are totally for it. I, for one, am against school attendance impacting grades.
Perhaps it is a feeling left over from secondary school attendance policies, or the fact that college students pay for the privilege to attend their classes, but I continuously find myself aggravated when I see a professor’s attendance policy affecting the final grade for a class. College courses are not required by law, unlike primary and secondary education. They are not only optional, but students must pay or find payment for the sheer privilege of attending. So where it makes complete sense to force attendance on grade-schoolers to ensure an educated populace, I question whether or not the increasing popularity of attendance policies at a university is derived from that habit.
Some say that attendance shouldn’t impact grades because it’s not a valid measure of learning. Attendance is, at best, a proxy for engagement, but there are various other ways to measure learning. It can also be manipulative, and burdensome on students. Mandatory attendance policies also diminish the desire to learn. For example: rewarding attendance can make students think they are only in class because they are required to be there, not because they want to be.
Mandatory attendance policies don’t prepare students for the workforce. Very few jobs nowadays require employees to be present, it’s just an expectation. I’m not saying that your boss isn’t going to be mad if you skip every day, but I’m saying that most jobs can now be done in hybrid or work-from-home modes. Plus, vacation days and/or sick days greatly decrease the immense pressure of attendance. It’s an inessential cost for students. Students are already paying for the course, so the cost of attendance software is an unnecessary expense. Forcing students to pay for an additional cost that benefits them in no way is an abuse of rights, and is entirely exploitative.
Lastly, extrinsic motivation is not as effective as intrinsic motivation. Students are more intrinsically motivated to go to class if they are interested in the material. I can attest to this. If I enjoy a class, I tend to attend more of my own volition, if I dislike the class (or its policies), I tend not to go. If attendance is required or ‘“greatly recommended”’ I only go due to the fear it will impact my grade. I almost resent the class, refuse to utilize class time in a productive manner and most of the time, just play on my phone the entire time or count down the minutes until I can leave.
Mandatory attendance also affects students who have to work to support themselves. I, for one, work as well as take classes. When there’s an available shift that could offer a bit of extra money that overlaps with a class of mine, I weigh my options. If I have my work done for that class, and feel prepared enough, I skip that class for that extra shift. College is all about finding that work/life balance. By requiring students to attend classes, it takes our choices away, thus not allowing us the freedom to achieve a decent work/life balance.
