My lab science professor’s attendance policy is absurd, unfair, and ridiculous - so much so that I want to know if you think it would be unreasonable to complain to the school! Here’s the policy: 1. If you miss the first day of classed, you are dropped from the class and a wait list person takes your place. 2. You are allowed ONE “free pass” (missed class.) For EACH one additional class missed, you will be docked a whole letter grade. 3. If you miss four classes, you get an “F” no matter what grades you had on any other assignments. 4. There are no “exceptions” given.
Why this is downright wrong (on so many levels) is probably immediately apparent to you. But the biggest reason I can’t believe he can’t get away with this is that the school does NOT WANT students to come to class sick and pass their illness along to other students!!! The chance that the student is going to have a legitimite reason for not being in class more than one time is high. And don’t even get me started on how condescending this policy is. You’d think this was elementary school! Does this merit a complaint to the school? I wish I could drop the class, but I can’t because I need it for graduation and it would wreak havoc on my schedule.
I actually like the first point in this prof’s policy. Labs can’t be made up–if you miss the lab, you miss all the learning. I think the one free pass is reasonable. No exceptions? That’s where I lose it. What if you get mono or the flu? What if you are in the hospital having emergency surgery? What if you have a death in your family? Sorry, dad, I can’t attend your funeral because of this lab class.
I would drop this class no matter what. If your GPA is vital to your future, you are setting yourself up for a potential disaster.
My guess is that the absences the prof is talking about are unexcused absences. If the student can document the absence with a doctor’s note etc. it may be excused. But that fact would lessen the “drama” of the situation.
Guessing you have already fallen foul of this policy, and blown your GPA with one too many unexcused absences. It feels like school because you are treating the class like a kid. Treat it like what it is: your JOB. You don’t just not show up for work, you don’t have hangover mornings and just come in late, you don’t blow off the office policies your boss has set.
Assuming sicknesses are excusable, I think it’s a pretty good policy. I can’t remember what the rules were like at my school, but I believe they were similar.
Not sure why OP is predicting gloom and doom in advance. Agree that policy on dropping student if they don’t show up for first class makes sense - there are other students who want your spot. One allowed absence on lab class is pretty good. Depending on school, if lab meets once a week, it may only meet 12-15 times total and as someone pointed out, you can’t just make up work by picking up notes - you have to do the lab.
With regard to absences, it’s always possible something bad will happen. Just be sure you don’t waste one absence on hangover, out of town trip, trying to leave early for break, etc and save it for real sickness. In both D’s college careers I don’t think they missed a class more than once because of illness. Especially one that meets once a week - you have a whole week to get better, return from funeral, etc.
Why do these rules seem so “elementary school” to you? Because sadly rules are made based on students who are not honest, who will email after the fact to tell the professor of the 5th close person in their life to die or how they had bad stomach flu or btw was in a car wreck three weeks ago. Professors have heard it all. Yes someone on CC will chime in with a story about mono, etc but don’t know why you worry about it until it happens. It likely won’t.
As an aside about doctors’ notes. I wouldn’t be surprised if that doesn’t matter. While oldest D went to school where health center would actually email professors if student shouldn’t attend class, other D went to big U where health center would only give note saying the student had an appointment and most professors don’t take that as proof they NEEDED to miss class since you could walk in and say I threw up all night or whatever and get the note even if something not really wrong. Friend who is professor has heard it all and her advice is that in real case of extended illness or family crisis that you contact Dean’s office. They are the ones who can contact professors (all of them since real emergency would hardly only affect one class) and have it considered. (Same friend doesn’t teach lab class but these would be her rules for missing/making up tests - if for funeral she requires an obit where you are listed, so even if it’s your closest friends mom, sorry).
EDIT: if you have a long term health problems that make missing class likely talk to dean or register with disability office if applicable and clarify what policy means for you before semester begins/drop deadline passes.
How often does the lab meet? If it’s a once-a-week class then this is entirely acceptable, as you would only be meeting around 12 times in a semester so missing more than one class would be problematic. Even if the class meets multiple times a week, it’s a fairly standard policy and certainly not one you should complain to the school about. If it meets multiple times a week, I would be somewhat surprised if a doctor’s note or Dean’s Note would still count as an unexcused absence, but that’s up to the teacher’s discretion.
One of my classes met every single day last year and we were still only allowed 4 absences or else we failed the class (barring illness, family emergencies, or religious holidays). It didn’t mean my professor was a bad person – he’s actually the nicest professor I’ve ever had. But he decided that based on the material we were learning, missing more than four classes would hinder our ability to properly learn.
Classes that tend to have waitlists often have a strict attendance policy at least up to the add deadline. Basically, students who miss class are saying that they do not care enough about the class to attend, so why not give the space to someone on the waitlist who does care about the class?
Sounds like a pretty typical attendance policy to me. I’ve had a similar policy for years. FWIW, the policy about dropping a missing student on opening day and giving it to a student on the waitlist is my college’s policy, not just mine. It’s fair. And really the whole class benefits when more students really want to be there.
Attendance policies are not punitive. They are designed to help students learn. Most experienced professors know how many absences the average student can sustain before their learning declines.
Don’t expect sympathy from the administration. They might step in for a genuinely unusual policy (e.g., no religious jewelry) but as I said, this is run-of-the-mill stuff. They really won’t care.
I think this policy would be ridiculous at a commuter school (which applies to most colleges), but it’s not bad if you’re at a residential school where most people can easily attend all their classes if they want.
That’s a standard attendance policy for a lab class. It would be outrageous for a 300 student lecture class, but not a lab class.You can’t miss a lab class because unlike a lecture class, the learning experience isn’t available in a textbook or online - you have to be there doing the experiments. It’s hard to have make-up labs because oftentimes the reagents have to be prepared in advance and it isn’t worthwhile to do so for a few students.
I actually still don’t see how it’s that relevant there either unless the town has a curfew forbidding you from being on the road in time to arrive by 8am.
No exceptions! That is ridiculous. Will the prof show up for class if he is in a car accident? Has a death in his family? Gets the flu or flesh eating bacteria? Of course not!
You are unlikely to gain any sympathy here; the policy makes sense and is one that I have often seen. If a class is overenrolled, you should show up at the first class. If you have an emergency, you should contact the instructor beforehand. This is not unfair and it is likely that one day you will be on a waitlist for a class and will hope that someone does not show.
As for missing a lab - if you miss a lab, how would you make up the work? It’s not like you can borrow notes. Lab space is finite so it is likely that the lab is in use at all other times.