As a Northeastern student who pays thousands of dollars to go to this university, my biggest pet peeve is the attendance policy. It’s ridiculous to me that 10 percent of my grade is riding on my presence in the classroom. Not whether I’m contributing to class, not whether I’m paying attention or just surfing the web, not if the teacher even knows my name. No, I’m being graded for just getting to class and sitting there, nothing more.

It’s ridiculous. If I know the material, if I get good grades on quizzes and tests, if I ace my midterm and final, then I should get an A in the class, no matter how often I’ve actually attended.

There are some days I just don’t want to get out of bed. And worse, there are some classes that really don’t need to be attended.

In my opinion, the attendance policy is simply a way for bad teachers to legitimize themselves; it’s the professors who teach useless classes who are the strictest about the attendance policy. I’m tired of wasting valuable time sitting in a class I don’t need to attend when I could be doing something useful.
Here’s an idea:  If you want me to come to class, teach a good class. Please, please make it worth my time and stop hiding behind the attendance policy.

– Avery Mangahas is a sophomore communication studies and cinema studies dual major.