Paying to attend, not to learn

As college students, we pay massive amounts of money to gain a higher education and it is from which that we forget the core concept of such. We are the consumer of what these institutions are selling, which in this case is a higher education. My thought is that if we choose to pay x-amount for a class that gives us this higher education, then why is it that we are being penalized in our grade because of an attendance policy. We are the ones paying for the class, so why is it professors are still holding are hands as if we are in second-grade? If we are the ones paying to skip these classes, then let us skip and earn the grade we deserve from such. It is not the responsibility of the University or professor to make sure we get to class each day, so why is this age-old policy still around?  

                                       

Now professors, I understand why most of you all have the same policies, I really do. Some might say it because they do not want to deal with the ignorant students who would skip all semester and then ask for the lectures again when it is crunch time. Professors might also egotistically argue that if they are going to take the time from their day to teach that the students should take the time to be there each day. I even had a professor here at ONU tell me that the only reason why she has an attendance policy is that it has always been that way. Another commonly argued point is that when a student enters their career field that they will have to show up every day regardless. That statement has so many things wrong with it that I will just leave it at that otherwise this blog would be ten times as long. Now I am sure there are thousands of different reasons that might be argued for attendance policies but all of which forget the core concept, which is who is the one actually paying for the class. 

All I am saying is if a student does not have the responsibility to go to class then the University and professors should be more than happy accept that freely earned paycheck. College is not a free ride, you must pay x-amount to ride said ride and it should not matter whether you were on it for the whole time or half the time, you paid for the experience so it should be your choice on such.      

Until next time,

Matt