Do you skip a lot of classes if attendance isn't taken? Be honest!

[Star Trek Nerd]

I can't stand it when instructors don't count attendance because...I get lazy.

My Psych 1 class is like this. We only get graded on exams, period, and out of 17 class meetings this semester I'll have been to a whopping total of: 7 classes! And the first 3 were the ones before I figured out I could get away with not coming, the other 4 days are for our exams which are the sole basis of our grade.

Sometimes I wonder why I wasted my money, because half the class isn't there on a given night and I truly am not learning a thing. Our instructor's teaching style is bad for procrastinators because she's always behind, and because she has us all read straight from the book and doesn't explain anything. Everyone knows you can study at home and save yourself the trip. We don't even have to swap notes...there's nothing to write down!

I need more motivation! AGHHH! So glad this class is almost over...I'm getting a B with very little effort and feeling quite guilty about it too...:imbar

This is a community college and I was wondering if anyone else out there had classes like this. On one hand I am happy because I don't have to work so hard, and on another I know I am shooting myself in the foot somehow...

By the way I know I won't be able to skip any actual nursing classes so please don't flame me, thanks!

[TweetiePieRN]

Sometimes I wonder why I wasted my money, because half the class isn't there on a given night and I truly am not learning a thing.

This may sound totally obvious...but how can you learn if you are not attending class? If you don't attend class, you don't even know what it is you are not learning. Yes, psych is kinda boring. But, you need to pass it as a prereq.

To answer your question...yes, I have ditched some classes but only a couple days per semester, if that. Not a majority of the days, like you stated you were doing.

I think of my brain as a toolbox. The more stuff I put in it by learning, the more tools I have to use.

[Star Trek Nerd]

This may sound totally obvious...but how can you learn if you are not attending class? If you don't attend class, you don't even know what it is you are not learning.QUOTE]

Ahhh...you are right that it sounded that way. I should have clarified. What I meant was that our instructor doesn't go beyond the book at all. Our class splits into groups and basically teaches each other, she is kinda like a hippie and lets us do our own thing. But no one reads so we waste all 3 hours. I know everything in the book and I do really well on the tests. I just feel like I'm not learning because it's so easy to do nothing. Hence, that is why I said I hate it when they don't take attendance because it makes me so lazy. This is obviously my fault alone and no one elses, but...in any case, the point of my post is still a mystery to me.

[Energizer Bunny]

Nope! never would unless it was an emergency. My reasoning is this though: my time in class is MY time away from my kiddos and dh! LOL!

[PCGrad06]

i have not missed a class yet. that was the only thing my sisters and i would get upset about. they would not care to be 15 minutes late and i wanted to be the first in the room. i won because i am the oldest!:chuckle

[stressgal, RN]

I only miss class for an emergency. I believe that good study habits must be followed if the class is "easy" or not. I wonder if you could pull an A in the class if you were able to focus more.

[LeesieBug]

This past semester I had a phych class taught by a grad student. I have NEVER missed as many classes as I did for that one.

She, also, regurgitated book info, and had absolutely not one original thought to contribute during lecture. It was pointless to go. I got to the point where I did not want to drive an hour, round trip, to get the same thing I was getting by sitting at the kitchen table reading the text! I feel your frustration on this one!

I usually attend every class session, unless it is an emergency. I have always felt that attendance is essential to success in every class....until I took that class. Wound up with an A, just by reading the text. Might as well have been a self-taught course.

[Sheri257]

Totally honest: No. Absolutely not. Too many teachers lecture on material outside of the textbook and I would miss it, therefore hurting my grade.

[klone, MSN, RN]

Back when I was 20 and going to college because it was expected of me and I really didn't want to or know what I wanted, I skipped all the time.

Now I wouldn't DREAM of skipping class. Hell, this is MY hard-earned money paying for these classes, and I need to get good grades or I won't be able to achieve my goal.

So no, I don't skip class.

[Altra, BSN, RN]

No, I don't skip class. I learned that lesson the hard way 15 years ago when I attempted college the first time around, with the mistaken impression that class attendance was optional.

In fact, right now I'm sitting here trying to figure out when to take my sick cat to the vet, because I can't miss class.

[lisamc1RN, LPN]

When I was in college, many years ago, I skipped those kinds of classes all the time. I remember a Sociology and Psych class that were exactly as you described. I passed by simply reading the book. I think it is total laziness on the part of the instructor, and a waste of my money! Now, I'm not sure that I would skip. It might be boring, and I might not be learning anything from the class, but there is more to living than that. It is about discipline. It takes discipline to do things that we don't want to do. I am a different person now, and I think I would go , not because of what I'd learn from the instructor, but because of the challenge of discipline. :)

[NursePru]

Even if the teacher doesn't take attendance...they still know what faces they see on a regular basis and that could mean the difference between an A and a B. I always keep this in mind when I don't feel like going. If you are borderline between 2 grades and the teacher knows you were there...they are very likely to give you the higher grade.