THE RANT: Dear Hypocrites

Dear Hypocrites,

When I was in high school the teachers always told me a number of college stories that would make us rebellious kids sit still. Some of them include stories of truth and wisdom like, don’t room with your best friend because you’ll end up hating them by the end of the year.

Another one that was drilled into our skulls was the piece of advice saying that the professors will not hold your hand and baby you through the course; and for the most part I believed it until I got to Vermillion. What I found interesting about this school is that the instructors took and continue to take attendance.

I find it highly unnecessary that professors at this university go out of their way to take attendance.

The fine student body here pays a good sum of money to attend classes. It feels like a slap in the face when professors feel the need to tell us that if we miss so many classes we will be dropped from the course.

My father told me stories of his college days where he would skip class and the instructor would not waste the energy caring about where this student was. The theology behind that was to instill responsibility with one’s money and time. Now it just feels like we are back in high school again. What’s next? Is the professor going to call our parents and tell them that we missed a day?

Of course I do see the other side of taking attendance in that it gives respect to the instructor because he/she is taking time out of their day to teach us and help with the student’s education. This is a problem, though, because that respect is earned, not given.

If an instructor is passionate with the information and presents it in an interesting way, like most of them do, they won’t need to take attendance. It just seems silly to take attendance.

Sincerely,

Alex Dayan, sophomore