Why are professors trying to punish students for attendance during a global pandemic? This semester is so uncertain, and some students are more at risk of getting COVID-19 than others. Students do not need to be punished for not attending a class session during a pandemic.
Depression, anxiety, domestic violence and many other struggles have increased during the pandemic. It is impossible to know what everyone’s home situation or mental state is like, so to expect every student to not miss more than three class sessions this semester is ridiculous.
Another factor to consider is that students can see on other student’s social media if they are out partying and not taking precautions against COVID-19. If a student has a class with someone who went bar-hopping over the weekend, maybe the student does not feel safe attending class in the same room as them. People’s safety, including mental state and physical state, should be the number one priority during the pandemic, not whether they attended class or not.
Many of Blackburn’s students are doing remote-learning from home, and every professor is required to offer a remote learning option for their classes whether it is an in-person class or not. Meaning that all professors should send the code to attend virtually to everyone in the class, including in-person students. This allows students to attend class when they are not feeling well, but do not know if it is COVID-19 or not yet. It also allows students who need a mental day to attend to get the information that they need, or students who do not feel safe going to class with another classmate.
Elizabeth Ivey, a junior psychology major stated, “I don’t think attendance should be mandatory this semester because there are so many different circumstances to consider for students and you cannot hold everyone to the same standards. Many lectures are even recorded, so it should be the students responsibility to use those resources or not.”
I already think an attendance policy is uncalled for during normal times considering that the students are literally paying for the class. They should be able to pick and choose when they want or need to attend class instead of being required to go. Regardless, expecting perfect attendance from students during a global pandemic is ridiculous and straight up cruel.