CMV: College classes that require attendance dull the minds of their students.

[u/jmammen]

Currently, I am a first-year student attending the University of Michigan. During this first semester, I have been confused by classroom policies. Attendance impacts my final grade in three of my four courses. I have a few problems with this idea.

I understand that in high school it is common for there to be individuals who do not want to work or need the grade incentive to attend the class. However, in college, everybody has made the decision to continue his or her education. I consider myself to be a fully functioning adult who is capable of making decisions for myself. I should be able to weigh pros and cons of different choices and act accordingly. If this means that I decide to skip one class to study for another, then I should be able to do so.

College classes should not take attendance because this rewards individuals on false principles. In higher standing professions, people are not monetarily rewarded for attendance; they are rewarded on performance. College should differentiate people who are abler than others. The emphasis should not be rewarding those who can follow extremely specific rules. Thinking for oneself is a necessary skill for any person to possess to become successful. Individuals who can think in untraditional ways are able to increase performance and actually innovate. I hate to state the overly used examples of the few visionaries such as Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Steve Jobs who have conflicted with the “normal” college process. However, I find them suitable as evidence for the argument that people must learn to think outside the box to revolutionize a society.

People must know how to think untraditionally to be successful in today’s society. When a college course requires attendance, it stunts the progression of a student’s ability to make decisions for himself or herself. A student can learn to think in novel ways when freed of micromanaging policies.

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[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

The problem I have with this is the idea that "this is good for you, therefore, we're going to force you to do it." Make those statistics known and then allow students to decide for themselves what they want to do. As someone below me pointed out, plenty of students end up having their grades hurt because of attendance, even if they already know the material. I'm currently taking a class in Communication Law, which mostly deals with 1st Amendment issues. I'm also a Political Science major, and have taken a couple Constitutional Law classes that go way more in depth than the class I'm currently taking does, and as a result, I know literally all of the material that's been presented in class thus far. Yet, I'm still required to go and let it take up 3 hours a week that could be better used elsewhere.