After the Event: Class Attendance

You're all aware I don't quite understand what motivates you to come to lectures and talk.  I suspect those of you that do this haven't come even close to this blog, but if you have, I'm all ears about why it makes sense to turn up to a lecture just to talk.  There are cafes and pubs on campus.

But even more important is class attendance.  This is a compulsory part of your degree.  Well done to those with perfect attendance records (I now have them from the class tutors), and for those who didn't attend because of other difficulties that were raised with your tutor, again well done.

But the rest of you, be warned.  I mentioned this at the start of term.  If you want a reference from your personal tutor, he or she can make use of your attendance records when writing that reference.  Hence even if there is no direct consequence for your violation of a compulsory part of your degree, there is an indirect consequence.

If I was employing someone, and the reference came in telling me the person didn't comply with the compulsory parts of their degree programme, I simply would not employ them, and I doubt I'm on my own in saying that.

Hence, again I'll repeat the warning you had back at the start of term: Fail to comply with compulsory parts of your degree and face the consequences.

Your picking and choosing when you attend (attending a different session is equally much a violation and won't look good on your reference) is unfair on everyone apart from yourself.  The class teacher who does not know who will turn up, and may have to teach to 2 or 20 students (very different proposition), and your fellow students who signed up for that particular class, who get their experience diluted when you barge rudely into their class, uninvited.

At university we expect mature behaviour on the part of you, because you're not school kids any more.  The kind of behaviour displayed by class attendance and talking in lectures is anything but what would be expected from mature, respectful people.