When University announcements contradict class policies, how do students decide which to follow? This is the dilemma students face in 2009. The current H1N1 influenza pandemic has sickened around 22 million, according to the latest Center for Disease Center reports. Moreover, the traditional flu season is just beginning. The CDC has several recommendations for those who are ill, among them staying home from school. These recommendations have been forwarded to students via email. Yet staying home is in direct contradiction with a time honored tradition and current requirement of most classes.
If your adolescence was anything like mine, your parents, older family members and possibly teachers praised the importance of attending class in college. I heard how liberal class attendance policies were. Essentially, they did not exist. However, I would be paying for my own education, so I was told that I probably did not want to throw my money away by not attending a class I paid for. At Northeastern Illinois University, that is not the case. Show up to class, or your grade will suffer. Attendance is mandatory. After three unexcused absences, your grade can be lowered by the instructor (per the 2009 – 2010 academic catalog on page 34). Who determines whether an absence is excused, and how do they do it? Is staying home sick excused?
Students that come to class sick obviously are not operating at full capacity. Not to mention their presence is only risking the spread of their contagious illness. Students may not remember what occurred in class that day from the cold medicines they are taking, let alone actually learn. What then is the reason that instructors require these students to attend class? Is it self-indulgent narcissism? Would the instructor have made such an impact on the student that their lesson got through clearly and succinctly? It is not very likely. Yet, these students must attend class.
Good students most likely do not want to miss class to begin with and are doing so only to get healthy and avoid spreading their germs. They are aware that their classmates (and possibly their families) can get sick. Responsible students will contact classmates for information that they missed because of their absence. These students are prepared for their next class and assignments regardless of their absence. The point of taking a college course is to gain knowledge and learn. Not to just show up.
At some point during your college career, you’re going to have a class with those students who just show up. The ones who crack jokes every few minutes, are ill-prepared for class and seemingly hold the class back. If you’re at all like me, you wonder, “Why didn’t this idiot just stay at home?” Unfortunately, the same thought comes about students who are sick. So why do instructors want these students in class? If they’re bad students, won’t their exam grades prove this? I was under the impression that grades in college should be indicative of a student’s work produced, not be their ability to simply show up.
Technology is rapidly changing and NEIU has been slow to change with it. Hybrid classes are slowly being offered. Perhaps by the fall of 2011, there will be more online courses offered. There is a greater responsibility on students in this type of environment because the instructor is not there leading the way. These students must be truly motivated. However, simply showing up isn’t something that they can always do. Students who take these classes are not any less of a student, but they may not be successful in classes that require their attendance.
In the future, perhaps NEIU and its instructors will understand that physical presence in a class does not equate to mental preparedness and learning. Policy changes should recognize this, as well as technological advances. Class information and materials can be readily available through electronic and digital means, just check with MIT. This is the 21st century. University policies should reflect this rather than be locked to tradition.