The Rules of Attendance

Back in my high school days, teachers used to be pretty strict about attendance. We couldn’t be late to class, and we could only miss a certain amount of school days before we were made to go to summer school. The least a teacher could do for an absence was give us a detention.

But now that I’m in college, things are a little different. In fact, they’ve changed for the worse. As it turns out, some courses state that if students miss class more than three times, they fail — meaning the entire course. I find this to be quite absurd.

I feel like I’m back in high school. This whole attendance deal is ridiculous. If I have worked hard in a class and have gotten decent grades on my tests, then there is no reason why I should be punished by receiving an F in a course simply because of missing three days of class.

Of course, not all courses implement the same policy of failing a student due to absences in the class. In my French class, for example, the attendance policy has officially been changed on the syllabus. Students who have more than three absences will have points deducted for each additional absence - which I think is a reasonable policy for students.

But for math, the policy is incredibly uptight. According to the syllabus, a student may only be absent five times. Otherwise, he or she absolutely fails the entire course. No excuses.

I always thought teachers would be less strict about classes in college. Why do they care when we are the ones who are paying for classes and it is our problem whether we go to class or not?

Besides, I don’t think a rule like that even needs to be implemented in college. We’re older now, and we should know better to actually be responsible and go to class. We don’t need rules like that. It actually hurts my feelings that the school would think we are that irresponsible when we’re paying for our own classes.

Of course, I know it’s probably a little difficult for teachers to actually believe that a recent high school graduate would be responsible enough to go to class and not skip. A good reason why they would implement such a rule. But hey, we made it to college; we’re not that stupid.

At least I’m happy that this semester is over. I actually feel accomplished that I made it through my first semester in college. I survived it, I’m starting to lose the freshman 15, and I’m not failing math due to attendance.

I still think that someone should say something about the attendance matter, though. Maybe attendance should not be that big of a deal. Teachers could just gradually deduct points from students' grades whenever they are absent more than three times. Or how about if teachers give extra credit for perfect attendance? Maybe we could all feel a little more motivated to go to class.

The point is that grades should be based on how well we do on tests, not on attendance.

Oh, and by the way... have a happy winter break!

Losing my hair because of college finals

It's finals season and, in case you haven’t noticed, the semester is practically over. I almost survived my first semester in college.

Aside from my mini personal victory, I’m freaking out about finals.

To me, finals are a big deal. They are practically our last chance to do well in a class, and if I don’t do well on all of my finals, my GPA is seriously going to go through an extreme amount of pain.

There is a lot of pressure to do well on a final. If you’re like me and you’re leaving everything to the last minute, there’s even more pressure to study massive amounts of information in a matter of a couple of days.I’m such a mess.

Not only that, but every time I bump into my friends at the library when I’m about to study, they compelled to tell me their final schedules and how freaked out they are, which doesn’t help my situation at all.

You see, things were a tad different in high school.

First of all, finals were important for us, but finals didn’t happen until the end of the school year, specifically during the summer.

Second of all, we still had the same classes the semester after winter break, which meant we still had time to raise our grades before the end of the school year, which took off a lot of pressure from the midterms.

In college, when the semester is over, it’s over. There are no more chances to do better in a class except for the final. I’m already an emotional wreck whenever I think about my astronomy final.

On top of that, the material covered in a college course is a lot more than what the teachers covered back in my high school days.

Since it's been a little tough to take a breather because I'm so stressed out, I figured I'd pass along some tips that have been past along to me.

• Prioritize your studies according to the order of your finals: This is something I find very helpful whenever I have tried to study for finals. The main thing you have to do is to try to study for the first final you are going to take. For example, the first final I’m taking is math... meaning that right now, I’m cramming up all of those logarithm rules I learned last week. The second final I’m taking is French, which I’ll study for during the weekend.


• Ask your professors all of the last minute questions this week: Don’t wait until the night before your final to send your teacher an e-mail and ask him or her for help. If you have questions and you don’t understand something... by all means, ask away!


• Study groups are the "in" thing to do: Get a group of friends together and hit up your local Barnes & Noble or coffee shop. It is an efficient way of learning the material quickly and you get to bond with your fellow classmates.


• Three words: try to sleep: A common misconception with college students — especially freshmen — is that in order to do well on your finals, you have to stay up all night and cram everything up in one sitting. This is not true. Our bodies need rest, and if we just keep working and studying like maniacs, our brains will be so tired that all the information we retained will be gone by the time we start writing out our names on our tests. Finals are important, but so is our health. Make sure you schedule in some sleep.


• Take a deep breath: What’s the worst thing that could happen if you don’t do that well on your final? Try to relax and take breaks between long study sessions. If you’ve paid attention in class, then you should be OK. If not.. well... there’s always next semester.
  

And for your viewing pleasure, watch this:


Good luck with finals!