RE: A logical consequence for disrespect

Sun, 25 Apr 2004 16:34:18 -0700

Nancy, the issue of college classroom attendance and how institutions and faculty respond to this problem is of interest to me.  Rick's points below should be seriously considered particularly with respect to your written policy on attendance.  I would add one more suggestion and that is for you to find out whether your institution _has_ an attendance policy.  For example, at the college of liberal arts & sciences of SJU the policy is that there should be NO penalty for being absent, except for certain courses, such as those with science labs and foreign language courses. Obviously, the university reminds students that they are responsible for the material, etc., but they are not to be penalized merely for being absent.  Of course, class participation may be graded.  I happen to like this policy.

Frankly, I would be angry too if my students had done that to me.  However, other than sticking to your current written policies and informing them in no uncertain terms that their behavior was academically irresponsible and perceived to be disrespectful by you and by the sub, I am not sure that it is wise to punish them in any way beyond what your course policy and institutional policy states.  I suppose that you could amend your course outline to include a policy to prevent any similar events in the near future, but that may be too late at this point in the semester (assuming that your institution works on the typical fall/spring semester session and it is, in fact, late in the semester).

Miguel


At 02:46 PM 4/25/2004 -0400, you wrote:
    A couple thoughts spring to mind that you may want to consider:
 
    1. You mention penalizing both those who left early and those who didn't attend in the first place. But you don't state whether or not the students knew you wouldn't be there. If they did, then the lack of attendance is an issue--but if they didn't, it may not be fair to penalize those who legitimately missed the class for the rude actions of those who did attend and left early.
 
    2. You also don't mention if the class has an attendance policy. If no specific policy exists, is it fair to penalize non-attendance?

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Miguel Roig, Ph.D.                              
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