Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: School attendance...



I'm interested in knowing what are your school policies and
comments on attendance. How do you handle them? What seems to work at
your school? What do you do about if the student is hospitalized for a
long duration of time?


Hello--

I teach college level physics at a two year scool in Atlanta Georgia. I
have seen a wide variety of attendance policies. Here at DeKalb we have
policies which range from "You are welcome to come or not. Everything is
due according to the due dates on the syllabus (given on day one). If
you choose not to come that's fine. If you don't hand in your
assignemnts, you will receive a zero and I am perfectly content to give
you an F at the end of the quarter." to "You can only miss x days. On
day x+1, you will be withdrawn." I choose the former, to make my life
easier. If someone comes and complains about a grade on a test, I start
by looking at the attendance record (they sign in each day). If you
haven't been here and haven't been turning in homework I have no
sympathy. If they file a complaint (no one ever has), I will justify my
actions based on what will happen to them in the work place.


We receive many complaints at the college level from business/industry
about the students' seeming unawreness of the need to come to work. They
have learned this behavior because many teachers (from elementary to
college level) don't require student responsibilty. I do. In my
reality (my classroom), you are responsible for your assignments (tests,
homework, etc). You can choose to do what you want, but you live with
the grades you get. In the real world out there, there are many employers
who are willing to work out arrangements to telecommute. But, you have
to do the work. To me, as long as they are willing to do the work and
meet the requiremtns , they have the right to miss class. But, they have
the responsibilty for that. I would start by letting the parents know
that there is a problem. I would tell them this from day one of the
school year. (Yes, I know I'm being idealistic and that many paretns
really don't care.) The studnets will have to take responsibility
eventually. They may as well take it now. Good luck.

Mariam Dittmann

--









+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Mariam W. Dittmann
DeKalb College
Clarkston, GA

mdittman@dekalb.dc.peachnet.edu

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++