I did that in calculus and almost failed just off attendance.
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· 10 years ago
I don't have an opinion on attendance grades, but I do think that only showing up for exams - no matter how well you do - is missing the point. You are there to learn through dialogue with peers and professors. You support each other through the learning process. If you don't like that style of learning, why bother with a physical campus? There are accredited online programs.
If they want to go to a physical campus, and they already know the material, then they aren't learning through dialogue with anyone.
deleted
· 10 years ago
That's a very arrogant attitude to take. You're assuming that classmates have nothing to offer each other. In class discussions allow for far greater depth to the material.
If someone really does know everything the class has to offer, many schools have a system in place to demonstrate prior learning so classes don't need to be taken.
If you're paying for college, you may as well show up. It's expensive for most people, and even if you think you've got it in the bag you may still fail the exams... and then all that money goes down the drain.
If they want to risk it, I feel that's up to them. The participation shouldn't matter. And if they're doing other things when class is going (like working?) they might help with the cost anyway.
Or if you're like me and have an anxiety disorder that could prevent you from being able to go to school. It's unfair to lose credit qhen it's not your fault you can't go. And school is just about being able to spit back what you learn, so as long as you do well on tests, who cares?
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· 10 years ago
Again, if in class learning doesn't work for you, online options are available.
You're still in high school, aren't you? I find that college/university is way less focused on regurgitating information than high school was.
Surely the most efficient way to learn is to attend the fucking class you dumbass. How arrogant do you have to be to suggest you could pass just by turning up to exams. Fuck you.
I guess I'm pretty arrogant then. I could have easily aced quite a few of my gen ed exams without ever going to a single class. I knew the material because I did it in high school already, but my university wouldn't accept credit for them or allow me to just advance passed them. The most efficient way to learn something you have already learned is....to do anything, since YOU ALREADY KNOW IT.
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Funnily enough, pretty much the only classes in college that I had that graded on attendance were those early gen ed classes that I didn't really need to go to. The later classes I could skip if I wanted to, but actually wanted to go to them to learn.
I mean, I like going to school, but (and maybe this is just because I haven't gone to college) I noticed that quite a number of my classes in high school pretty much comprised of us reading the textbook and answering questions anyway, but of course you can't do it in the half hour it takes you instead of sitting through an hour and a half long class and being bored the whole time because you're not allowed to talk. I really enjoy when teachers do lectures and I'd never miss those classes for anything, but even if it's "arrogant", when they're teaching me in a way that I could do on my own anyway, I don't want to go to the class just to be in the class while I work on stuff.
The purpose of an exam is to see if you understood and learnt the contents given in class, not the other way round (the purpose of the class is not to prepare you for the exam) so your point is invalid
Well actually these days (especially in public schools, I'm not sure about universities) the class is oriented toward either state tests or other exams, so sometimes the learning experience isn't all it should be because it's geared toward acing tests and not really teaching students.
I agree!! I almost failed last semester because I was sick every other week, they were doing construction next to my building and I'm asthmatic so the dust was killing me. They won't penalize you if you have a doctor's note, but to get a note you need to pay a $20 copay. I did the math and if I had gone each time I would have had to pay $140 throughout the semester. It would be one thing if there was no copay for the nurse but to make students with hardly any money already PAY for their grade is just cruel. Especially when just filling a seat and listening to a professor read slides that are posted online is worth %15 of their grade.
Unless you're attending a workshop/discussion-based class or design lab, in which everyone needs to be present for the actual class to work. If you consistently miss that class, you're screwing it up for other people, too.
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deleted
· 10 years ago
At my university attendance was recorded but not graded. They used it for borderline cases; if you had only just failed but had good attendance they'd give you the benefit of the doubt and make it a pass.
I actually run my class based on this exact philosophy. The problem is that students, historically, are terrible at assessing their ability to do well while not attending classes. In a decade of teaching, I've had exactly one student who didn't attend but still turned in excellent work. Everyone else who doesn't attend does very poorly.
It's supposed to count as responsability, for that's what they're trying to teach us... Imagine you're a teacher, a great teacher. Now, just because you're great at your job, it doesn't mean you can just skip it and get paid anyway...
Yes, but if you're a janitor they don't expect you to sit there washing clean windows all day long, you do something useful because that's time management. Yes, if you're doing something that involves services, you're going to have to be attentive at your job and doing things repetitively, but your responsibilities as a teacher are to make sure that your students learn, and your responsibility as a student is to learn the material. If you have already done your job, why should you be at work, especially if you're not getting paid? I work as a hostess at a restaurant, and if there are no customers, I get to go home, because there's no reason for me to be there, my job is already done.
deleted
· 10 years ago
I would argue that as a student, you also have a responsibility to your peers. Students should attend class to learn and to help others learn.
If someone really does know everything the class has to offer, many schools have a system in place to demonstrate prior learning so classes don't need to be taken.
You're still in high school, aren't you? I find that college/university is way less focused on regurgitating information than high school was.
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Funnily enough, pretty much the only classes in college that I had that graded on attendance were those early gen ed classes that I didn't really need to go to. The later classes I could skip if I wanted to, but actually wanted to go to them to learn.