To be counted absent, or to not be counted absent, should that be the question?

Is the zero worth it?

It’s a common occurrence for some college students to miss a class or two here and there due to various reasons. Some of those reasons being legitimate testimonies, and others having to do with the decisions that were made the night before.

On several occasions, I have witnessed a professor take notice to one of their students, who is obviously sick due to their constant coughing and nose blowing, and suggest to them that they should have stayed home, or remained in their dorm. In most cases, the student would indeed prefer to be back in bed. However, they have an attendance policy that is looming over their head threatening a zero for their attendance and participation grade.

Many students have fought the courageous battle of sitting through countless classes while an elephant is sitting on their chest, their heads feels like a balloon filled with smoke, and Niagara Falls is spilling from their noses. It’s not fun, and most likely, they are not taking in, or comprehending, any of the information that is being presented to them while in class.

Getting sick in a highly populated area, such as college, and in the tight corners of Siena is unfortunately almost guaranteed. Is your grade going down if you decide to stay in bed to rest while prolonging your peers getting sick? If students have to meet in the middle with professors to prove their absence, perhaps they could provide a note, or proof of visit, from our on-campus nurse, or any doctor, for that matter.

Attendance should not be graded, and student should not be attending class when they are clearly sick and contagious.

Everyone knows what it feels like to be sick. The last thing you want to do is get out of bed. However, students are doing just that so that they do not put their grade in jeopardy.

Should that really be the case? By missing a class, the student is already missing the lecture as well as the explanation on the next assignment. They are already suffering enough from missing a class, so should their grade suffer as well?

When a professor gets sick, they are able to send an email out to their class delivering the message that class is canceled due to them being sick, and no penalization is made for them. Their grade does not go down. So should ours?

There are some professors at the university who see the attendance policy as a suggestion and do not enforce the rule. I have personally sat in a class where attendance was not taken, and it was noticeable that more students showed up to that class simply because they wanted to. They were not being forced and their grade was not threatened.

I feel as though students feel respected and trusted when they are given the option to attend class or not. Students want to have a choice while in the classroom.

I think the attendance policy that weakens students’ grades needs to change. I believe that it is unfair for students to be marked as a zero when they are feeling their worst, or dealing with a situation that causes them to resort to an absence. In most cases when students take an absence it is because of a valid reason, and they should not be graded simply for life occurring.