Attendance grades SUCK. :p
Oct. 17th, 2001 11:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
batskeetsI hate attendance grades. There are times when you just don't need to be in class, like when you have a lot of experience in the area they're covering, or when they're just going to have free work time, and you'd be so much comfier and more efficient if you were able to work at home instead.
Usually, however, those instances involve profs that grade you down if you *don't* come to class. -_-
See, I missed one class period for Continuity, because I was sick. And apparently, that's all we get. If you miss TWO lousy class periods, you get dropped a letter grade. FOR THE WHOLE TERM. I grant you, these are 3-hour long classes, but that's pretty bloody rigid, even so. And 3 hours of work time? What the hell am I supposed to do if I'm working on my project at home and can't/don't want to lug everything over to friggin' Millrace? Sit there like a dope for 3 hours?
I just find the whole idea of attendance grades to be ridiculous. The only instances I can think of offhand in which it's actually justifiable: foreign language, because you have to practice speaking with other people, and phys-ed/dance/etc classes, because you have to physically do and learn what they're teaching, often with special equipment and/or conditions.
But with regular classes, it's stupid. Everyone has a different way of learning, and lecture sections are often quite useless, especially if you know more than the prof is going to teach you on a given day. There are times when you'd just be better off spending an hour a day studying from the book than you'd be spending an hour a day in lecture. And it should be up to us to decide when those instances apply. :p
Usually, however, those instances involve profs that grade you down if you *don't* come to class. -_-
See, I missed one class period for Continuity, because I was sick. And apparently, that's all we get. If you miss TWO lousy class periods, you get dropped a letter grade. FOR THE WHOLE TERM. I grant you, these are 3-hour long classes, but that's pretty bloody rigid, even so. And 3 hours of work time? What the hell am I supposed to do if I'm working on my project at home and can't/don't want to lug everything over to friggin' Millrace? Sit there like a dope for 3 hours?
I just find the whole idea of attendance grades to be ridiculous. The only instances I can think of offhand in which it's actually justifiable: foreign language, because you have to practice speaking with other people, and phys-ed/dance/etc classes, because you have to physically do and learn what they're teaching, often with special equipment and/or conditions.
But with regular classes, it's stupid. Everyone has a different way of learning, and lecture sections are often quite useless, especially if you know more than the prof is going to teach you on a given day. There are times when you'd just be better off spending an hour a day studying from the book than you'd be spending an hour a day in lecture. And it should be up to us to decide when those instances apply. :p
