"Joni Rathbun" wrote in message
...

On Fri, 31 Oct 2003, Belphoebe wrote:


"Ericka Kammerer" wrote in message
...

I've never heard of you doing anything that I thought
was inappropriate. However, while I agree with the idea that
people should be flexible on both sides, I also think attendance
is a serious thing. I've pretty much had it up to *here* with
people who don't place any value on the time of other people
than themselves (not saying you're in that camp at all). I
do see a bit of a pattern among many people--people who can't
be bothered to show up when they say they will at a party,
college students who skip classes (and who almost invariably
expect you to recount your lecture for them)

I teach at the college level, and have also been thinking about this
phenomenon as I've read this thread. I've always been very careful to
put
my attendance policy on my course outline and to explain it on the first
day
of class. Students get a certain number of "free" absences during the
semester, and once that number has been exceeded, their course grade is
lowered a certain amount for each "extra" absence. Students do not need
to
show me doctor's notes or other documentation to prove that they had a
legitimate reason to miss class. And bringing such documentation does
not
"excuse" their absences, so I urge students to save their absences for
true
emergencies.

Students always nod and say they understand all this when I explain it.
But
then I'll always have students who try to get me to make an exception.
"Dear Professor: I will miss class the Friday before and the Monday
after
spring break, because my flight leaves early and returns late. Please
excuse my absence, and let me know if we're doing anything important on
those days. Thanks for understanding." It's not unusual for more than
half
my students to miss class right before and right after a break.

I had a student who missed all of her "free" absences, and then was
absent
on a peer-review day (for a writing class). Missing a peer-review day
carried extra penalties--losing points on the final paper. When the
student
returned for the next class session, she told me that her parents had
"kidnapped" her to take her home to celebrate her birthday.

What is taught and how it is taught makes a difference. Sadly, many
of my college courses were such that you COULD skip and still do
very well -- especially at the 100/200 level. It was really a bit
of a shock for me back when. I'd have been happy to meet an instructor
like you tho after my experiences with the other courses, you might
have had to do some convincing Your students today have probably
had similar experiences.

That said, all my years in college, I only had one professor
present an attendance policy. He allowed NO absenses for any
reason. He promised to grade down one grade for each day missed.
As luck would have it, I had a required art course that required
a field trip which would cause me to miss that professor's course
one day. I tried to make arrangements. I got a professor from
Course B to talk to the professor from Course A. But I still
got the B.

I didn't think it was fair or appropriate and protested
to the powers higher up. My B was changed to an A.

I had a professor who said this-no absenses are excused for any reason, and
anything missed due to an absense cannot be made up. (I had four classes
with this particular person, over my last two years of college)

The day of his midterm, I went to student health that morning, because I was
feeling just plain lousy and my stomach hurt. The student health doctor
looked at me, and told the nurse to drive me to the hospital. (appendicitis)
However, when I got there, I wouldn't sign the intake papers, because I HAD
to take this guys test (I had a pretty high fever). Finally, she called
Prof. Bigshot, and let him know that he had a very ill student who wouldn't
sign in to the hospital, because of his test policy. He came over to the
hospital to tell me himself that I was excused from the test, and could make
it up later. He also made arrangements with all my other professors for me
to make up their exams when I got out of the hospital.


His syllabus the next year read that "Absenses will be excused ONLY under
extreme circumstances, which will be determined on a case-by-case basis"-
and when he went over this, he explained that being in the hospital counted
as "extreme circumstances".