I don’t usually get annoyed by attendance requirements. I go to class, and only once have I exceeded the allotted number of absences. But every day that I was in one of my classes last week – a large lecture class – the teacher spent the first 10 minutes of class taking roll.

This seems ridiculous, especially since the class is only 50 minutes long. All of the students in the class are paying to be taught, and that money is being wasted.

Taking attendance is impractical in college. If a student can make the grade he or she desires, why should there be an attendance requirement?

I have had more than one class where I got all of the information from the assigned textbook and I made As. If I can make an A by not going (or not paying attention in class) why should I be required to attend?

In my one class that I did exceed the absences, I would have made an A, but the attendance policy dropped my grade a whole letter. Yes, I should have gone to class, but why should I be penalized if I know the information and can ace the tests?

There are classes where attendance should be mandatory because of the nature of the class, small discussion classes for instance. But teachers should not have attendance polices for classes that are larger than 15 or 20 people.

Megan Nix is a junior majoring in criminal justice.