Title has the simple version of this: How do you feel about professors who lock the doors to the lecture hall when they begin teaching and will not allow late students to come in?
Why I ask (the TL;DR version that's just personal stuff and unnecessary ): In my first semester of nursing school, this was a standard policy. I never liked it, but I definitely understood it. Punctuality is a big thing for me, but it isn't for a lot of people these days, and the cohort needed an overarching message that nursing wasn't the profession to get into if you couldn't get it together and arrive on time. None of the other professors we had after that have felt that a locked-door policy was necessary.
That was all good and well, but now I'm on my last semester of nursing school and I have a professor with a personal policy of locking the door when the lecture begins. I disagree with it on principle, because I think it's just childish. We all pay a lot of money for the education we receive. Every moment of it is important to us. We've made it to the final stretch, and I think we've shown the faculty that we're dedicated enough and wouldn't be late without a very good reason. Depriving us of lectures we paid for because that professor refuses to cope with someone quietly coming in and sitting down is kind of ridiculous IMO. But I've always figured, hey, whatever, I'm never late to anything so it won't affect me, and I've shrugged it off.
Well, guess what? It happened. Our class is several hours long, so we get released for 5-10 minute breaks every hour or so. We were released for a 10 minute break at 10 til, and I ended up needing a bit longer in the bathroom than I thought. I got back to the classroom 2 minutes before the 10 minutes was up, and I found myself locked out. I was irate. Ten minutes hadn't even passed yet, and I knew I had to have only missed her shutting the doors by less than a minute. It was unfair and I couldn't do jack squat about it. I couldn't even leave because everything, including my purse, was locked inside the classroom that I was locked out of. It was incredibly upsetting to have to sit outside for an hour knowing I was missing the lecture and being completely powerless to do anything about it.
Now I'm not stupid enough to complain to anybody and make waves about it; you pick your battles wisely, and this one would just be stupid. But I'm definitely still angry that it happened, and I'm going to write about it on that professor's evaluation at the end of the course. It's left me wondering how other students feel about/deal with these kinds of policies, or whether they even have them.
I have had a lot of strict professors in college, and many locked the doors after the start time of the class without hesitation.
I don't see anything wrong with it because I am not late 99% of the time. Even on breaks I ALWAYS come back early. I always show up 15 minutes early, and leave my house 30 minutes early if I look at traffic and it's bad or the weather is bad. I am always up 2 hrs before my class starts (I live 10 minutes from campus) so I have a cushion if I oversleep.
I've always been in the mindset that if you show up to class at the exact start time, you're already late. It's the same with work. I have always been commended for my punctuality and I pride myself on that dependability.
I agree with the posters who say that the chronic offenders should be penalized and not the responsible students who have never been late before and who had something unforeseen happen. I am not a fan of the blanket reprimand-often, in my workplace, a mass email will be sent out scolding the staff for something only one or two individuals are doing. It is demoralizing and infantilizing for the innocent.
omg if I ever teach I am stealing this! Brilliant! I was in the Navy and my CO always said if you were on time you were late. As in You should be there and be read to go when class starts not just walking in the door. That stuck with me.
I went to a music camp where we were expected to be in our seats and have our instruments tuned by the time the conductor mounted the podium to start rehearsal. His motto was:
"To be early is to be on time. To be on time is to be late."
That was 44 years ago. I remember it clearly. It obviously made an impression on me.
To be a Nursing instructor you need to be a ****! We were told that if we were even 1 minute late for clinical you would have to go home. I had two different ways to get to the hospital and both had steep mountains to pass over. During a snow storm I would leave really early. If one of the mountain roads was closed and I had to go the other way, I would be late for clinical. I told the instructor this and she told me if I was late I would have to go home......my response......call security because I am not risking my life to get here just to be told to go home.
I do not feel that professors should lock the doors after sessions have started. College students are adults or at least they should be, and are paying money for their education. Even though I do feel that it is a distraction when a classmate comes in late, but it is their choice as they will miss out on the session that is being presented by the instructor. Life is hectic and everyone has certain life circumstances. If a student is chronically late, then the instructor should discuss that situation with the student in private. Doors should remain open throughout the class session.
I would be LIVID if a professor had locked me out, especially during a break. I would have knocked loudly--or I would be having a talk with their boss.
I kept the front row of seats open for latecomers. You had to come in, sit down in the front row, and be quiet. No asking, "What did I miss? Did you get an extra handout?" and no asking questions on what I already covered and answered questions on. Nobody wanted to sit in those seats and feel people staring at the backs of their heads.
now, when i was in nursing school, this would have been a problem....there was a group of us that liked the first row and sat in it for every class, every semester....and the 5 of us would get there early and "claim" our seats in the first row by putting our books and such down....
we never had professors lock the doors for late comers....but sometimes if they didnt unlock the door properly, it would remain locked from the outside....it was not an issue at our school...if someone needed to get in, they gently tapped on the window on the door and whoever was close to it would open it... lateness was addressed by having 3 tardies equal an absence. 2 absences from clinical or 3 absences from lecture, and you were withdrawn from the class. most did not enforce the tardy rule, just the absence rule. it was rude awakening to one girl who was consistently late, when she arrived at level 4. we had a brand new clinical instructor who said she would enforce the rule and it was understood it was by her watch. period. no exceptions, not even 1 minute. only took that girl 3 lates to make her one clinical absence.....she was never late after that knowing that if she missed one more day, she was booted from level 4. of course, that only lasted thru clinicals....during management the instructor was not there, and she reverted back to her lateness... her preceptor even asked me twice where she was and if she was coming in....!
I've always said that if I ever became a professor, I would lock the door at the start of lecture. If you're late, too bad so sad. It is your responsibility to be in class on time especially if you're paying for the course. It is disrespectful to the professor to come in late. Yes, things happen, I understand that. But if they do, miss the class.
I hate being late for anything, and if there was ever the possibility of my being late to class, I would skip it altogether.
): In my first semester of nursing school, this was a standard policy. I never liked it, but I definitely understood it. Punctuality is a big thing for me, but it isn't for a lot of people these days, and the cohort needed an overarching message that nursing wasn't the profession to get into if you couldn't get it together and arrive on time. None of the other professors we had after that have felt that a locked-door policy was necessary. 
WookieeRN, BSN, MSN, RN
1,050 Posts
I have had a lot of strict professors in college, and many locked the doors after the start time of the class without hesitation.
I don't see anything wrong with it because I am not late 99% of the time. Even on breaks I ALWAYS come back early. I always show up 15 minutes early, and leave my house 30 minutes early if I look at traffic and it's bad or the weather is bad. I am always up 2 hrs before my class starts (I live 10 minutes from campus) so I have a cushion if I oversleep.
I've always been in the mindset that if you show up to class at the exact start time, you're already late. It's the same with work. I have always been commended for my punctuality and I pride myself on that dependability.