“My kid cancels his 8 am Friday class all the time.”
lol…well played
I find this a little odd. On the Thanksgiving thread, you’ve got parents saying they actually tell the kids to approach profs about skipping the class before break or even just going ahead and purchasing transportation for before break ends. Meanwhile, here, on this thread, nearly everyone’s kids attends schools where there’s never, never, never a reason for the prof to cancel without a lot of advanced planning so everything is covered. It’s like students (think future employees) can take days off at their convenience/convenience of parent, but there is never-EVER an acceptable reason for a prof to need to cancel class. Like we’re a some sort of breed of super-employee who never gets sick (and yes, I’ve gone to class with pneumonia, but never influenza A), whose family members die only in the summer and have funerals on weekends, and never just get an opportunity to do something so cool they decide to take a day off.
That’s not what anybody is saying. I’m sure that colleges are not docking tenured professors for getting ill, attending a funeral, etc. What they are (or at least mine) saying is that the class needs to be covered. The show must go on. Similarly if a Broadway star gets sick, the understudy subs; they don’t just cancel the show. Although if the star is above the title, you can generally get a refund. Good luck getting your 60K back if the TA is subbing. 
My kids’ classes have been cancelled, but only for the kinds of reason @ordinarylives lists-a serious family emergency or illness. It seems to me there’s too much material to get through to cancel for frivolous reasons. Because they were at a LAC there was no TA to fill in (or rather no qualified TA-TA’s are all undergrads). The only time I’ve encouraged my kids to come home early for break was when their grandfather was going into hospice and his doctor though they needed to come home immediately to say goodbye. That’s not say they never skipped class. They wouldn’t exactly tell the parents paying for their education if they did.
@ordinarylives - I was actually a bit shocked at many of the comments on that other post about attendance not being important and some made it sound like classes being cancelled was no big deal. The point of my post here was to see if my dd’s school was an anomaly because the profs and TAs are extremely professional and committed individuals. The faculty deserve (and earn) their students’ respect, which in my opinion, means showing up to class and being engaged. This was not intended to suggest that profs don’t get sick and have legitimate reasons and emergencies that would cancel class. I’m very sorry if that is how this post came across!
Getting the material conveyed and mastered is a big deal; attendance may or may not be crucial in that. Adults take time off work when needs dictate, but get the work done.
As a parent who is footing the balance of my daughter’s college bill after scholarships, I expect my daughter to go to each and every class unless she is “can’t get out of bed sick,” or has a justifiable reason for missing a class such as a grad school interview (hoping she gets some), a job interview (back up plan if grad school doesn’t work out), hospitalization, or a funeral. We sent her to college to ATTEND school. She goes to an expensive school, I expect similar standards of her school’s faculty, though for perhaps other reasons (conferences, birth of a baby, child is sick, etc). I am a believer that skipping or canceling too many classes is a slippery slope.
At the current cost of many private schools one hour of class costs about $75. That’s a chunk of change to throw away.
At CC my daughter had hers for next week cancelled but it is partially online so the teacher added additional online tasks. Other than that she hasn’t seen any but they have gotten out early, mainly to go do an online assignment to turn in that night. For S17 I have no clue and I never asked. Good question for Thanksgiving.
@NorthernMom61 at the risk of offending certain mods here, I’m going to ask you a question somewhat related to the original topic but not really - how would you feel if the class lectures were available online? Would you be ok with her skipping lectures? My kid has 4 classes this semester, 3 are live-casted and replays available the next day. One of the classes he goes to all the lectures because the professor is a living legend, but the other ones he goes to maybe 20% of the lectures in person, but obviously reviews all the videos and goes to all the discussion/labs. I suspect this is/will be a trend at all schools with large class sizes. In fact, because of the fire situation, 3 his classes will be online-only next week.
I personally am ok with it, but I know a lot of parents don’t like the concept of paying premium $$$ for their kid to take online classes or near online classes.
@ProfessorPlum168 if the lectures are online and the student actually “attends” then great! I don’t consider that skipping, nor do I consider that the professor canceling. I also view it as a creative way to handle disruptions due to the fire situation or other crises. I think in the 21st century with all currently available technology, education settings are going to be rather hybrid. That is a great approach for compensating for faculty absences.
At the same time, I really want my child to have the face to face, brick and mortar experience. This is lost in most cases with the online format. There was a professor I had in an upper level class, many moons ago when I was in college, who when you answered a question or made a comment, she often said, “unpack that.” She used a rather Socratic method. I remember that thirty years later, it was scary, challenging, and fun. I learned so much. I want my daughter to have that experience which I don’t think can happen if the class is online.
like me?
I’ll answer anyway. Hybrid courses are the wave of the future (present?). For me, they’ve helped with the very real problem of how to deal with simultaneous enrollment when the lectures are scheduled at the same time.
Personally, when the opportunity exists, I still prefer to attend the class in person, but find that the videos are a great help to review/reinforce.
I think the online streaming/recording is a great option. While I think it’s important to go to class, It allows for some student flexibility. Things come up and having the option to watch it later is great.
The math profs at my daughter’s school seem to all post their lectures online. If something is particularly challenging, my D will often watch another prof’s lecture on the same topic to try to solidify the information. Definitely not a substitute for going to the actual lecture though.
There’s a Middle School teacher where I live who posts videos of his class lessons. Students and parents are giving it rave reviews so far. Not just for making up lessons but reviews, and parents who want to help their sixth graders at home.
I think there is a difference between individual professors cancelling and the university closing. One daughter went to school in Florida and her school closed 2-3 times for hurricanes. Often there were students who left before the school closed, and she said at least one class only had 6 students in it for the last session. My other daughter is in Wyoming and it never closes. Even if the interstate is closed, the school remains open and the profs are to use a liberal make up policy for the students who can’t get to campus.
My son is going through the opposite problem right now, continuing classes while on break. My son has no classes on Friday but is taking an online course as well. Given that they are on break this week he left campus after his last class on Thursday. Thursday evening the online instructor assigned a project that involved 4-6 hours of work due by Sunday. OK, school was in session until Friday and technically the break didn’t start until Monday, kind of rough but understandable
Friday, the same instructor posted another assignment, due this Friday. This is another 4-6 hour assignment but the problem I have is that this work, including the due date, falls during a time when the school is on a scheduled break. My son (and I) fully expected that he would have work to do over his break but never dreamed he would have assignments posted and due during the time period school was closed.