Should College Attendance Be Mandatory Essay Example

for. Artley believes that attendance should not be tied to course grading, stating, "As students paying to enroll in these courses, the attendance should be up to us and not roped into course grading in any way shape or form." Another issue with mandatory attendance is the potential distraction caused by students who attend class solely to earn points but distract others. It is not uncommon to see students doing unrelated activities such as sleeping, chatting on Facebook, shopping online, watching videos or live sporting events, or pinning wedding dresses on Pinterest. Sarah Griffin agrees that missing numerous classes should not be acceptable but believes that a policy requiring attendance at every class is too restrictive.

Griffin suggests that professors should have mandatory attendance policies with some allowances for absences. She believes that at the university level, students have the right and responsibility to manage their time but penalizing students for missing a lecture in favor of working on a semester project would be unfair. Currently, most of Griffin's professors either have no attendance policy or allow students to miss a certain number of days without penalty, which she prefers as it gives students appropriate control over their schedules. While Griffin does not object to professors having attendance requirements, she acknowledges that not all of her peers share her view.

According to Griffin, she attempts to attend her classes regularly for the purpose of learning from the lectures. However, she recognizes that various other students have their unique learning approaches and would rather acquire knowledge and understanding independently. Thus, she suggests that a strict attendance policy may only be hindering for these students. In her

perspective, the attendance policies should equitably balance the preferences of both sides. As stated by Griffin, “We are adults, but also college students at the same time.” She assumes that universities should regulate the attendance rules to some extent, but the responsibility to achieve excellence in education should primarily fall on the students themselves. Therefore, Griffin firmly believes that attendance policies should align with this notion of individual agency.