Sickness spreads.
At a community like Ball State, with residence halls, dining facilities, communal bathrooms and classrooms, it always does.
Unfortunately, many professors do nothing to discourage the spreading of flus and colds on campus. They set strict attendance requirements for their classes and demand notes from the Health Center for students who need to miss class. They push students to come out when they should really stay in.
By pressuring students to go to class when they're ill, professors put their own health and that of their other students on the line.
Professors apply this pressure through mandatory attendance policies, and professors always explain their policies the same way: "Attendance is very important in this class."
If attendance was actually as important as professors say, it wouldn't be necessary to cut points from students who miss class. Their laziness would show on each test and assignment.
Students are paying to take classes at Ball State. If they can't be bothered to attend, it's their own decision. If the classes are challenging enough, students will come whenever possible for the sake of their grades, with or without an attendance policy. If they choose to skip excessively, they will suffer the consequences when their tests come back.
Attendance policies that allow students to miss a certain number of days without explanation aren't really that bad. Sick students still feel relatively free to stay in bed when ill.
Far worse are policies that require students to get a note from the Health Center for each day they miss.
The urge to require a note is understandable. That way, the reasoning goes, students who are really sick can miss class, but those who aren't will still be forced to show up.
Too bad it doesn't work that way.
If a student has to leave the room or apartment and spend an hour or more in a university building anyway, he or she might as well just go to class. Otherwise, the student misses notes in class and doesn't have the benefit of staying asleep. So, instead of getting a note and keeping their germs contained, students come to class and infect the student body.
Professors, please -- for the sake of all of us, faculty and student alike, who wish to remain healthy -- don't motivate students to ignore the signals of their bodies. Yes, some slackers will slip through, but it's their own wasted money.
In the meantime, the rest of us will enjoy a more productive, illness-free winter.
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