Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 3, 1993 TAG: 9303030096
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-7 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
STUDENTS BLAME PROFS IN CLASS-CUTTING
A multiple choice question: What are the main reasons college students skip classes?A. Hangovers.
B. Sleeping late.
C. Bad weather.
D. Bad professors.
E. Boring classes.
The answer depends on who grades the test.
In Virginia Tech's survey of 550 undergraduates, most pointed the finger at their professors and would answer D and E.
"I feel like I'm sitting in there wasting my time," said Kate McDonald, a freshman from Cape Charles who sometimes misses her physics class.
"The subject area is hard enough as it is, and he just doesn't teach it well enough for us music majors to understand."
But professors are rejecting those excuses for absentee rates, a growing problem with students missing one of every six classes.
"That makes no sense," said Henry H. Bauer, a chemistry professor.
"The percentage attendance in my classes is different in different courses, and I don't believe I become more boring in one course or another."
The real problem, said professors, is not their failure to captivate students but the students' lack of responsibility.
"It's a big change in the way students see their role in the university," James F. Marchman, associate dean of engineering, said.
"I went to school at a time when you took the attitude that `I'm here to learn and go to class.' The attitude now is: It's more or less an option. `Why are you bugging me for not going to class?' "
Bauer said he can predict attendance rates by the thermometer: "It depends on the weather. In the fall on a sunny afternoon, I may have 25 percent of the class present. In normal cold weather, I'll have between 60 and 75 percent."
The Tech survey, conducted by the student affairs office in response to faculty rumblings, didn't say how often students cut.
But in interviews, most students say they cut at least one class a week.
Some said they're catching up on sleep after studying for other classes and others acknowledged a link to excessive partying.
Sociology professor William E. Snizek said a survey of his students showed they cut 16 percent of their classes - which he considered a conservative estimate.
Some professors - and even students - say a mandatory attendance policy might be the answer.
Snizek even talks of checking students' thumbprints with a computer scanner as they walk into a lecture hall.