It’s a rainy Monday morning, you don’t have a car and your class is 10 minutes away. You’re just not feeling it, so you decide to skip it. You miss a day of a class you don’t pay attention to anyway. No big deal, right?
In actuality, it is a big deal. There are several reasons why skipping a class can be detrimental to your learning, your personal characteristics and your money.
When people think of college they may think of freedom. Including the freedom to skip class without getting a phone call home to their parents. I hate to break it to any incoming freshmen, but there are still such things as attendance policies in college.
When you skip a class, you miss a lesson, so you fall behind schedule with the information.
Sounds pretty obvious, right?
Well there are consequences other than being behind in class. A domino effect occurs when a person skips class. It can start to become a habit that can be difficult to break out of. You may have heard someone say once you skip a class you’ll be skipping every other class and eventually stop going.
Now that sounds a little extreme, but there’s truth to it.
You may be a person who hates getting sick because you hate skipping class. So when you do skip for having the flu, you don’t have the desire to skip another class again. However, for others who don’t particularly like attending class three times a day for five consecutive days, skipping one may lead to skipping multiple throughout the week.
Then there’s the money you’re throwing away with every class you skip. It may not necessarily be your own, but you pay for every class that has your name on its roster.
Every class you skip in a public university costs you approximately $30, and at a private university it’s about $104, according to USA Today College. Think about how many classes you take in an average of four years. As the skips add up, so does the amount of money being thrown away.
With that being said, I personally don’t see the point in having mandatory attendance. We are at the age where we make most of our decisions on our own. We should be able to decide whether we want to go to class without an attendance grade being penalized by it. Knowing the consequences of skipping a class, aside from an attendance grade, should be enough to make a student want to go.
Teachers have attendance policies because they want their students to come to class. They know the material is important and students will have a hard time doing well if they don’t attend class. They care about their students and want them to get the education they are paying for.
However, when you’re in college, you’re responsible for yourself and you should be responsible enough to go to your classes. If you do happen to skip one or two classes throughout the week, you are responsible for those decisions. You’ll be handling the consequences accordingly because with or without an attendance policy, there will be some sort of consequence.
I understand that perfect attendance throughout your college career is close to impossible. I’ve had my share of skipping class, and I already know that it’s going to happen a few more times before I graduate.
Whether it’s on purpose, due to unexpected events or personal issues, skipping a class is bound to happen. Just know exactly what you are sacrificing when you do decide to skip.
Email Emily Kim at cp@cardinalpointsonline.com
