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Getting Punished by Professors due to missing Class by Sickness?
- Thread starter OfficerRaichu15
- Start date
My tech school had a strict "no excuses" policy. You would essentially lose a grade level every 2 days you missed. We had a guy who passed every test get a D because, in his own words, couldn't be assed to come in. Their logic was you couldn't do this on the job, so you couldn't do it there.
It actually almost got them sued, too. Teacher refused to show any mercy to a classmate who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and had to miss days due to chemo and radiation. Her other teachers and the administration made sure it wouldn't happen again. It is just a shame it came to that.
She ended up with the highest grades even with that. Respect
It actually almost got them sued, too. Teacher refused to show any mercy to a classmate who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and had to miss days due to chemo and radiation. Her other teachers and the administration made sure it wouldn't happen again. It is just a shame it came to that.
She ended up with the highest grades even with that. Respect
yeah she wouldn't give me a grade based on my work in the class, I literally went straight into an ER and a medical induced coma literally the weekend before finals were happening in class ........ I got an incomplete in that class because i never took the final, and she wanted me to come in and take it, after almost 5 or 6 months of being in the hospital and chemo/radiation.
Labs are different because they only meet a handful of days and usually involve group work or special equipment.
Just sounds like a situation where you would have been better off checking Ratemyprofessor before signing up for that particular instructor's course. I'm sure if they're that strict in regards to attendance, someone would have posted something indicating that.
Here at the college I go to, the only courses that have had mandatory attendance have something in the syllabus indicating that only 3 days can be missed or something along those lines that allows for sick days. And even then if you emailed the professor, they'd understand.
With the internet and most schools having a website where most professors post in-class materials such as the homework and lecture slides, attendance is becoming less important.
Here at the college I go to, the only courses that have had mandatory attendance have something in the syllabus indicating that only 3 days can be missed or something along those lines that allows for sick days. And even then if you emailed the professor, they'd understand.
With the internet and most schools having a website where most professors post in-class materials such as the homework and lecture slides, attendance is becoming less important.
I never go to work sick and I've had sick days at every job I've ever had.
Some professors are nutty with attendance. Won't hand out homework or any sort of critical thinking assignment for the whole semester yet demands students to come up and listen to you repeat a powerpoint word for word? If I'm blazing through the homework and quizzes without already listening to what you have to say, there is no reason I should be forced to show up.
As someone who teaches in a university and has a strict attendance policy for their modules (less than 75% and you're capped at a passing grade), the intention isn't to be cruel but rather (forcefully) encourage people to attend lab and studio times. However, sickness, bereavement, personal issues and stress are realities of the world, so I do my best to support students who reach out to me with their circumstances. Based on some of the posts, I would hate my job if I was as punitive as some of the US professors. Teaching classes is usually a joy, so I'm not sure why some people approach with such a heartless attitude.
I don't know OP. It seems you want credit for stuff you didn't do because you weren't there. Did you get a chance or did you ask about making up that missed day? If you got denied then I get it but if you didn't even try then why should you get credit for something you didn't do?
OP
OP
There have to be consequences for not showing up to class. I don't even use a textbook in my class, so if you miss lecture you've missed a lot. I can't tell you how many students expect to roll into about half of the lectures and still come away with an A. I've had students that have tried to get extensions on taking their midterms because they had other midterms. The amount of asinine bullshit I have to deal with from this generation of students is uncanny. If people actually came to class regularly, missing one day with the flu wouldn't affect your grade. That being said, if somebody has an excused absence with documentation, then I let them make up the work--always. But one in five people actually bother to get documentation to get excused even though it's not that hard.
Referring to the OP's situation, the syllabus is like a contract so if the syllabus says you can make things up, then you should be able to. Pragmatically, there is no way that certain labs can be made up, but the professor should have enough foresight to be able to address that within the syllabus. In my own music history classes for majors we have listening quizzes every Friday that can't be made up, but I also drop the lowest quiz grade so that they can miss one without penalty.
Referring to the OP's situation, the syllabus is like a contract so if the syllabus says you can make things up, then you should be able to. Pragmatically, there is no way that certain labs can be made up, but the professor should have enough foresight to be able to address that within the syllabus. In my own music history classes for majors we have listening quizzes every Friday that can't be made up, but I also drop the lowest quiz grade so that they can miss one without penalty.
Sucks OP. Like others say it's unfortunately common for people to come in to work or class while still sick, and it pisses me off to no end. My daughter is in daycare and these dumbasses toughing it out, if it ends up infecting me and then my kid means she can't go to daycare for at least 2 days which results in me or my wife getting no work done. I am extremely vocal about telling sick people coming in to get the fuck away from me or going home. The single people or those with no kids think they're being loyal but they're just being a fucking idiot and passing on undue burden to others.
Not a whole lot you can do in retrospective, but on the other hand you could get permission for an absence before class and ask for makeup opportunities. Could add that you'll come in if he won't allow that and you'll need extensive help from the prof for that particular lab. Dunno what'll change people beyond personally learning a lesson where the outcome for them is negative.
Not a whole lot you can do in retrospective, but on the other hand you could get permission for an absence before class and ask for makeup opportunities. Could add that you'll come in if he won't allow that and you'll need extensive help from the prof for that particular lab. Dunno what'll change people beyond personally learning a lesson where the outcome for them is negative.
Uh, that's how Uni is in the US too. It's just on some occasions you get a professor/class like OP did that has strict attendance policies.
I never took a final because I found out I had cancer the morning of. After all was said and done the professor just took the average of my other work and used that for my final grade.
Except most places of work would never fire someone for missing a day due to illness? That's kinda illegal my guy.
It's always been weird to me how schools do shit like this. Is there any other part of society like that? Nevermind the fact that I am paying YOU to attend this school.
So my department does this, but not out of malice. It gives you the chance to get the class credit later without retaking the course. We'll hold that incomplete for like a year and if you take the final in that time, we'll go back and change it to the grade you earn. Otherwise you'd need to retake the course (or keep your grade with a zero on the final).
I do this with exams (not a drop, but the final replaces your lowest exam). I still get some students who treat it like a freebie (had one tell me he was too hungover), and then later screw themselves by missing another exam. And university rules say we don't give late exams for any reason. Only early.
I don't personally give a shit about attendance in my classes,* but a lot of people keep saying this and for 95% of students, this isn't the case. Either the state is paying you aid or loaning you money, or you have earned some (limited) scholarships. My own university has really amped up attendance policies (currently just reporting absences to parents/coaches/programs mostly) because too many students are flunking out and wasting financial aid that could've gone to better students.
*My opinion is that if you don't come and fail, sucks for you. If you don't come and get the grade you wanted, then you didn't need to come. Either way it sorts itself out.
I would think the consequences would be missing out on an opportunity to learn, not an arbitrary grade deduction. If someone can complete the work well enough, why do they have to attend class?
If people show up or not to lectures, I don't care. I've had students come up apologising for missing one and I just shrug my shoulders and say it's their problem. If they're able to do the work I assign and show up when there's an in class test, good for them. They're all adults, need to take responsibility for their own time scheduling and also accept any low marks.
From my perspective, one of the most important aspects of higher education is the collaborative learning process that can only happen in class through lecture and discussion and by learning from the perspectives of other students. I value class participation, therefore I place grade value on attendance. There are many students that simply will not do something if there is not a motivation via grade to do it. The opportunity to learn is not enough motivation for some students.
I've also never met a student that's skipped class and even remotely done well... I've had the odd person barely pass by doing their papers and passing exams but even that is rare.
Attending class also builds discipline and creates a habit of self-reliance that pays off in many other aspects of life. Across the board, my most successful students also have the best attendance.
Most professors don't really care if you aren't in class, and they also don't care if you pass. We're there for the students that really want to be there. I care very little about grades, but I firmly believe that the experiences I had in physical classes as an undergraduate helped me grow as a person. The trade school mentality that has overtaken higher education has trained our students to not seek knowledge as a goal, but to complete the barest of checklists necessary for program mandated advancement. As someone that values lifelong education, that makes me sad.
Most of my classes were once a week so attendance was really important. Missing more than one class and your grade started to dip. In my experience most professors have been pretty forgiving as long as you have a real excuse and documentation in a timely matter.
I know that some will be very unforgiving. I knew one teach that the kid missed one exam because of court and another for a funeral and she wouldn't let him make up the second exam.
I know that some will be very unforgiving. I knew one teach that the kid missed one exam because of court and another for a funeral and she wouldn't let him make up the second exam.
Truth be told, now that I'm on the other side of things and am the professor, I honestly don't want to bother having an attendance policy because, as a great professor once taught me, the best attendance policy is the grade the students get with the effort they put into the class. Students who really don't want to be there (or really shouldn't be there due to illness) will just be a distraction to those who do want to be there.
With that said, the reality is that the college I work for requires it for the explicit reason of financial aid getting really messy if students miss too many days, so I'm stuck and I get in trouble if I don't make an effort to enforce it. We're given some leeway in regards to excusing absences for health or legal reasons, but even doctor's notes aren't always conclusive. I've not been teaching at this level for too long, but I've already seen a couple students act as if a doctor's note that clears them for two out of three classes for a week means that they should automatically get the third day off if they don't feel recovered and then just don't show.
With that said, the reality is that the college I work for requires it for the explicit reason of financial aid getting really messy if students miss too many days, so I'm stuck and I get in trouble if I don't make an effort to enforce it. We're given some leeway in regards to excusing absences for health or legal reasons, but even doctor's notes aren't always conclusive. I've not been teaching at this level for too long, but I've already seen a couple students act as if a doctor's note that clears them for two out of three classes for a week means that they should automatically get the third day off if they don't feel recovered and then just don't show.
I agree it's a joy to teach university students. This attendance policy is not a U.S. thing. I don't have an attendance policy other than if it's a day that we're working on group projects, you have to be there to get full points on the assignment/project. If you're sick/accident/Jesus came down and said hello/hungover - let me know before class - and get with your group leader to go over things. If you contact me after class, well you probably are not getting points. There is a really strong correlation with attendance/participation and performance in class for many subjects. That is probably why some have policy regarding it.
You do realize that being given the opportunity to take a final much later is better than being given a zero, right? Regardless of what unfortunate situation life handed you (and it sounds really bad), if you don't actually do the work, you don't actually get a grade.
I believe the simplest and most reasonable solution to this problem is if you legitimately LEGITIMATELY are sick and either incapable of attending class and can verify it OR you simply are trying to sare your classmates from the sickness (hero) then you should not be punished - if you are punished though I firmly feel that the best solution is to use the restrooms without washing your hands and thntake your hand and rub around then bring food to the teacher. When they get sick report themand complain that they aren't doing their job.
Yeah but if you do all the work, and can't take the final, in what world is it like, yeah ok we'll throw out everything else you did and force you to take the final in 6 months; how about just ..... Using the students work up to that point and passing them ? I get it if its like the final class to verify if they are a doctor or something, but your talking basic entry level classes; some times life happens and people are all going through a shitty enough time, why make it even harder on them or take something away from them.
Sure, people have different situations. Usually it's folks who are out for like a month or two who come in and take it late. I've also had people who knew they wouldn't be able to pass and just said they'd retake the course. It's just an option.
I'm fine giving them a zero on the final and giving them that grade instead of an incomplete, but it's not fair to other students to tell them to sit for a big final exam if someone else is getting their grade entirely without it. Obviously personal situations can suck, and there's options that might work, but ultimately to get the credit, you'll be asked to do the same work.
Edit: and my final is worth about 20% of your grade, so it's possible the zero won't fail you depending on what you had going in.
Next time puke in your profs face. That's what my great-grandma did.
Actually she peed her pants while standing infront of the blackboard after her teacher had repeatedly refused her to let her go to toilette and called her to write something on the blackboard.
The teacher was shocked and learned his lesson.
One thing you learn (or at least should learn) very quickly as a professor is to not give any students any unequal treatment. You have to remain as fair and impartial as possible to all students and not give any students unequal access to you or unequal treatment in grades. It sucks that you couldn't take the final, but review the material and take the exam again. You keep lessening the importance of the class (it's just Intro to Psych), but Intro to Psych at our school is one of the courses that fulfills a required social science requirement to get your degree. In other words, it is actually more important than the average major class technically. The other option is the option you would get in the real world (and a worse option)...start over if you couldn't finish. Meaning, retake the class in its entirety.
The other thing that isn't really mentioned in this thread is this. Professors know students talk to each other. We know about Rate My Professors, we know about reddit, we know about websites about getting into grad school like Grad Cafe, and most of all we know you talk to other students. The very last thing in the world a professor wants is for you to say to another student (even in a positive this is a cool professor type way) is this..."yeah, he just gave me a grade based on my work before the final". For a variety of reasons. Least of all is we would end up with a whole bunch of students next year that have life-threatening illnesses or have a call from the chair of the department because someone in your class complained. If you don't want to do the work, don't. But, honestly, if it's such a nothing class, take a W, take an F, take the final, or retake the class. But one thing you shouldn't get is special treatment regardless of the situation.
I always found it weird how in my experience, the core class professors took attendance and required it, while my major profs (Mechanical Engineering) never cared to take attendance. I honestly cannot remember a single Engineering course that had mandatory attendance. This went for labs as well, but if you missed a lab, you were fucked for the lab report, usually we had lab groups, so we helped out someone who happened to miss.
But lectures, yeah none of my Engineering profs gave a fuck if you attended, but you kinda fucked yourself if you didn't because Engineering school without attending class is really hard to do.
But lectures, yeah none of my Engineering profs gave a fuck if you attended, but you kinda fucked yourself if you didn't because Engineering school without attending class is really hard to do.
I had the same experience as you when I was an engineering undergraduate. Though my Calculus 3 professor had a quiz at the beginning of every class, so that was essentially required attendance (He dropped your lowest 2).
I guess next time, show up sick, puke all over the desk and ask to be excused, so at least you're counted as not missing attendance.