Is attendance an appropriate parameter for judging a student's capacities and quality?

[Anonymous]

So, I am a university student and my university has never had many regulations regarding attendance. However, this semester, they are telling us that if we have poor attendance, we can't take the final exams.

This is my third semester here and I topped the past two semesters. Yesterday, one of my professors told me that I scored above 90% on the pre-final paper he checked but he feels that I can't take the final exam due to poor attendance. I was planning to do PhD after this. As per the standards of my country, having a semester drop would have me rejected in most interviews and it will remain there with me all my life as a permanent scar.

I have attended 50% of the classes. However, they always discouraged me and thus I preferred to study on my own. I still was a first class first in the semester 80% of my classmates, that attended the classes regularly failed.

I don't know how to accept it. What is your take on this situation?

[Oliverlogan263]

I don't think it's really fair for the university to use attendance as the sole criteria for barring you from finals, especially given your past academic performance. A few thoughts:

- Attendance doesn't necessarily correlate with learning or ability. Some students learn better independently.

- Your grades have consistently proven you understand the material, regardless of class attendance.

- Penalizing you so harshly with a dropped semester over this seems disproportionately severe, especially for your future PhD plans.

- Was the attendance policy clearly defined from the start of term or was this a new rule just for you? That's questionable.

I'd suggest talking to the department head or dean to appeal this decision. Emphasize your track record of success and ability to learn without attending every class. Offer to do additional assessments to prove your knowledge if needed.

Frame it as them damaging your career prospects over a technicality, rather than your actual comprehension or potential. Remind them their role is to support students, not arbitrarily punish over minor policies.

You may also want to look into your student rights and see if there are any policies protecting you here. A dropped semester could seriously derail your plans - fight it politely but firmly. Hopefully they'll show some leniency given the circumstances. Let me know how it goes!

[boggboss]

Did u not check beforehand at the rules of attendance