School is built upon the idea of following rules; the college classroom is no different. Students should be made aware of the expectations laid out for them at the beginning of their classes and should strive to meet those expectations; however, there are some classroom rules that should be entirely up to the students — you know, the ones paying their professor’s salary.
Many students pay for their entire education. If they fail out of school, that’s on them. Even those on full scholarships have the responsibility to meet the standards laid before them. If someone wants to skip every single class for two weeks straight, let them. They may suffer for it later, but that was their decision.
Students need days off, and those should not only come on holidays or breaks. If you want to skip a class every so often, you should be able to do so without the threat of academic penalty or repercussions. This is not to say that professors should have to accommodate a student who is missing class, but removing grade points simply for being absent is ridiculous.
College students are old enough to know how much they can or cannot miss to stay on track and not fall behind. There are some days when it could actually be beneficial to skip a class, knowing the work that will replace it is far more valuable than the lecture someone can give you notes for. Missing certain days may hinder or slow a student’s academic success in any class, but that is a call they should be able to make for themselves.
Baylor’s attendance policy demands students attend 75% of any given class in order to pass. On top of this, many professors have their own attendance policies in place that are much stricter. Ditch these standards and let students make their own choices. It could be detrimental to someone’s education if they skipped a majority or plurality of their classes, but that reveals how dedicated they are to their specific classes and education. This would be, once again, their decision to make.
Like the current system, a new standard of personal accountability would place emphasis on individual students. It isn’t the professor’s problem if a student fails due to absences now, and it shouldn’t ever be. If professors begin to see substantial rises in absences, then maybe it’s time to rethink their teaching methods.
Again, we aren’t asking for extra accommodation (excluding legitimately reasoned absences); rather, we are asking for the ability to make our own decisions, weigh our own options and manage our own responsibilities.
Students should also be allowed to make the decision for themselves whether they want to use electronics in the classroom. Some professors do not allow the use of personal laptops or other electronic study methods during class. We’ve all heard it: supposedly, when you write something down via pen and paper, your brain is more likely to remember it. That may or may not be true, but using a laptop in class to take notes clearly does not hinder the academic success of students, otherwise literally no one would use it.
Professors want to limit personal distractions in their class, but as long as those distractions don’t affect someone else, it’s the student’s time to “waste.” Laptops and cell phones offer easy access to the internet, text messages and emails while in class “taking notes.” So what? If a student wants to spend an entire class period browsing Twitter or Amazon, let them. It’s their education. Many times, it’s actually really convenient to respond to a text or email in class, and the quick accessibility allows students to solve one problem while only checking out of the class for a short time.
Every year, some students complete classes with perfect attendance, never once having used an electronic device in their classes. That’s completely fine, but the reality is that many students simply cannot operate that way, nor do they want to operate that way. It’s time for Baylor to allow students to make their own choices. After all, it is their education.
