When asked the question “What makes students come to class?” and “What makes a good attendance policy?” one thing came to mind. Being a student and a TA looking at this topic I have to chance to have two points of view. After completing years of college courses I have seen my fair share of different attendance policies or lack there of and the main question I have is, “Who decides whether a student should be penalized or not?”
This is an interesting question because the students are the ones that are typically paying for their education and it is really their choice of whether or not they want to attend on any given day. However, the flip side to this would be the students how are lucky enough for someone else to pay for their education, therefore they may feel like they don’t have to try as hard because they are not paying every little dollar. My advice for parents who pay for their children’s education would be to set a few rules. For example, I am one of the lucky ones where majority of my tuition is paid for by family however, I have to maintain a certain GPA and if I do not that money is gone and I would be left to figure it out on my own which motivates me to attend class and for the mere fact that I feel awful when I skip a class. Back to the question, I personally feel that professors should not penalize students for not showing up, but reward them on certain days. This could be done by taking attendance every day; which may encourage the students to show up on a regular basis, and then on select days when an in-class activity is given it could be used as a “bonus day.” The key here would be to not let the students know it is a “bonus day” until all assignments have been collected because they could easily add a friends name, which we know is a common theme at universities because there is not a way to be caught unless its a small class where the professor knows everyone by name.
I feel this would be the best way to reward students for their attendance because it encourages attendance because the “bonus days” could be any day! When it comes to skipping classes, well its the students choice and if they want to miss out on important information that will help them further in their college careers I personally feel its up to them. They choose their own fate and own grades!