Skipping Class

Parents Forum
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OP, you won’t know whether or not your child skips class, unless his or her performance is below your expectations and skipping is revealed as a source of poor performance. Of course there are legitimate reasons for missing a class once in a while.

I do have the expectation that my daughter attends all of her classes. I expect that going to class and keeping up with schoolwork and studying to be priorities for her. If she could get everything she needs to learn from outside resources or teaching herself, why go to a brick and mortar school at all?

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" I’m just saying religiously attending a class because its there (or your parents think you should) is not always the best or most efficient use of your time. I’m sure your daughter will attend all her classes all the the time, but if the information can be obtained from a video lecture or book more quickly and concisely she could be wasting her most precious resource in college, which is time."

This attitude makes me oh so happy my kids attend(ed) colleges with out large lecture classes instead focusing on small classes with discussion based learning. Students there learn from their peers’ insights and questions as well as their profs.

" know for a fact that my parents only care about the grades and the degree." “Only the GPA and the degree matter.”

Of course I want my kids to obtain a degree in the end but my most important criteria is that they actual learn - knowledge, critical reasoning skills, etc. Grades are tertiary. I hope they get good grades but they are meaningless without knowledge and learning. And, yes, it is possible many places to obtain good grades while not maximizing your learning/knowledge.

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I agree @doschicos . And it’s a sad state of affairs when a college student says in seriousness that attending class isn’t a good use of time. Why bother attending college, right? Why not just get an online degree from University of Phoenix. What a terrible attitude.

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While I’m sure that it’s a minority of classes, I think that high achieving kids can make a determination of which classes are valuable to attend. And, even if they misjudge, I don’t think it necessarily reflects a terrible attitude.

As an example, DS had one teacher whose class was dreary, professor just wasn’t a good teacher in the classroom /u. That said, the subject was of tremendous interest to my son, he did a lot of reading, did all the psets, attended office hours, and the teacher and he had a chuckle about how well he performed without attending class. IMO, this is an example of a great teacher, just not a very interesting one during class, and a great working relationship with a student. Sometimes you just have to play the hand you’re dealt.

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@IxnayBob , I have slipped into your bad books again:-)

Maybe a student doesn’t need to attend every single class. I am sure there were times I could have skipped a class at my university and it may not have mattered. I certainly did skip plenty of classes while I attended community college. I was put on academic probation. I deserved it, and yes, I had a bad attitude. Then I got my act together.

It’s hard to understand the material if you don’t attend class. Sure, there are occasional exceptions and with computers it’s easier to find missed material or view a lecture, but this is not true of all colleges. Attending class is the best way to ensure you don’t miss content and ask questions.

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Just make sure your kids understand where they can and cannot get away with skipping. I teach small, participatory, discussion-and-activity-based classes. The program I work for mandates a strict attendance policy–miss more than four classes and you fail. It’s sad telling a student that this has happened to them (because of their actions), but I end up having to do so every semester.

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my perspective as the prof? I teach a class that is not at a great time for me. It’s for graduate students and there are good reasons that I am doing this, but there are drawbacks as well. My attitude is, if I have to be there and I have prepared, then I want you there as a student. We (team taught class) note who is present and who is absent and it does contribute to the grade. I understand logically that there are classes that can be completed with or without attendance, it’s just that I would never spend my own time teaching one. I realize that I am lucky to be in this position-- teaching this class is my choice and is not a part of my “regular” job.

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You will never know unless they choose to tell you. Got to let them go. They will soon figure out that going to class more often than not is helpful. But there are some cases where yes…the professor/teacher is not a great lecturer and actually makes learning difficult (very heavy language issues etc) and the student can use that time more wisely by seeking out other ways to learn the material. This actually happens so my attitude is learn the material and do your best but be flexible. The other added benefit to attending classes is getting to know the professor and developing that important relationship. This won’t happen unless you show up.

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Such an interesting conversation,

@doschicos

“Grades are tertiary” now that is just funny, I’m not sure most competitive grad schools or employers would agree.

“And, yes, it is possible many places to obtain good grades while not maximizing your learning/knowledge.”

Of course it is also possible to attend every class, not learn a thing and get bad grades. I think it is safe to say that generally speaking a person that gets an A on the test and in the class (regardless of attendance) has a mastery of the material more so than a kid that attends class and make a C. I’m sure there are exceptions but not the norm. Hence the reason for test and grading (which is another interesting topic).

@doschicos

“Why not just get an online degree from University of Phoenix.” Well I would not recommend the university of Phoenix to anyone ever because most employers and academic institutions do not recognize their accreditation, so it would be a waste of money and time. Also it is generally accepted that some disciplines require hands on experiences.

“Bad Attitude”, Now you have me confused, what bad attitude? I made great grades, got into a great med school, have an engineering degree from a top 10 engineering school. I always thought I had a great attitude regarding college. Do well, make the grade, move on. Is that not the goal? I was also in a sorority, pep club and student gov.

“It’s hard to understand the material if you don’t attend class. Sure, there are occasional exceptions and with computers it’s easier to find missed material or view a lecture, but this is not true of all colleges. Attending class is the best way to ensure you don’t miss content and ask questions”

I just read the other day and looked up just now that Harvard offers over 800 online classes that do not require attendance. Clearly they believe that a student can succeed by viewing online content and lectures. They do not indicate that they believe you should do all your class this way.

At any rate, what a great conversation. Very thought provoking.

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@2017girl Most graduate schools and top employers aren’t going to look askance at a 3.5 GPA (or even lower) from a top college. Perfect As aren’t required. Knowledge isn’t about regurgitating info gleaned from a textbook. I think you and I have very different definitions on what defines a proper education. I send my kids to school to be educated for life not for job training anyway. To each their own.

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" I think it is safe to say that generally speaking a person that gets an A on the test and in the class (regardless of attendance) has a mastery of the material more so than a kid that attends class and make a C."

Also, this argument is very spurious. There’s a huge chasm between an A and a C which you have neglected.

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"Also, this argument is very spurious. There’s a huge chasm between an A and a C which you have neglected. "

I agree!

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I found that the professors who care about attendance will make a way for it to matter to the students. We had an editorial writing professor who had us write out the First Amendment at the beginning of every class for a quiz grade. Every comma had to be in the right place. You had to be present and on time in order to get that grade. Sure don’t come, your grade will suffer, but it will be your choice.

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"Also, this argument is very spurious. There’s a huge chasm between an A and a C which you have neglected. "

I agree!

“I send my kids to school to be educated for life not for job training anyway. To each their own.”

I definitely went to school to be trained as an engineer and ended up using that training as a stepping stone to something else. I definitely view and will use med school as job training. I’m actually really trying to look at it your way. But I can’t get past the fact that most of my school revolved around learning a skill that would be applied to a job. I definitely had a few classes that focused on critical thinking,writing, time management, all life long skills but the vast majority of classes taught a job skill or the skill needed to learn the job skill.

I guess i could not justify the cost of a college education if I could not parlay that into job using the skills I learned.

I openly admit I find this a really interesting conversation.

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I’m glad that you’re open to different viewpoints, too! Neither of my kids went to college for any particular job path, and their employment now, though they both like what they do, was in no way dependent on their majors, but moreso the experience of sharpening their minds and gaining knowledge about ideas.

Even my husband, who used to be a pediatrician, did not do college with med school in mind, in fact, avoided the whole premed environment. Majored in bio (specializing in botany) and philosophy. Went to med school later on sort of accidentally. Quit medicine to be a high school teacher. Weird, huh?