OMG Professor Screwed Me||||Update: Resolved

[newnameman]

Attendance in college courses is nothing more than an ego trip for the prof. If you can make an A+ in a class without ever showing up except for tests then why should you go? To stroke the prof's ego? I guess they cannot handle the fact that there are people out there that are smart enough to not NEED THEM to learn something.

At least at my school, when the professor takes attendance during the first few class sessions it's not just to stroke his ego. Many students decide not to take a course they've signed up for, but don't bother to officially withdraw until the drop/add deadline, several weeks into the semester. By automatically dropping students who don't show up to class in the first weeks, it makes room for students stuck on the waitlist.

 

[Slew Foot]

Ha ha, attendance sheet

 

[nageov3t]

if you have proof that you went (ie: graded exams, papers, etc) I would absolutely, 100% protest the grade to the department chair (and continue on up the chain of command if the chair ignores you)

that whole situation seems weird, though... at Penn State, if you didn't show up for the first 2 weeks of a class, you were automatically withdrawn from the course.

 

[Hacp]

if you have proof that you went (ie: graded exams, papers, etc) I would absolutely, 100% protest the grade to the department chair (and continue on up the chain of command if the chair ignores you)

I am going to do that but look at it this way. If you never signed up for a class and one day walked in, took all the exams and handed in all the work, at the end of the class would you expect a grade? I totally understand where he was coming from since he had no power to change anything. I was too careless in missing the stupid attendance sheet.

 

[Locut0s]

Profs don't usualy check attendance at universities, lots of classes you could technically only attend 1 or 2 classes and get an A. At colleges they do much more so though. I'm talking about in Canada where there is a really definite distinction between colleges and universities, I have no idea how the 2 differ in the US.

 

[SacrosanctFiend]

I am going to do that but look at it this way. If you never signed up for a class and one day walked in, took all the exams and handed in all the work, at the end of the class would you expect a grade? I totally understand where he was coming from since he had no power to change anything. I was too careless in missing the stupid attendance sheet.

Did you sign up for the class? Did you pay tuition and fees? If you did and you went, took the exams, and passed, and now still want to say, "Hey, just a little mistake on my part." Drop out of college now and kill yourself. You have no place in society.

 

[mugs]

Update:
Ok I got a response from the professor. It was in fact not his fault but mine. Apparently, I didn't sign an attendance sheet the first 2 weeks so he marked me as never attended.

How did that happen if you attended every class?

He will not give me credit for the course, but he has the power to change the Not Attended to Withdrawn which is not an F. I will need to take the same class again and it is not offered in the spring. FML! UGH.

WTF? Appeal that to the dean.

 

[Hacp]

Yes, Yes, I am going to appeal to the dean eventually. I just emailed the professor and asked him to save all my grades. I am also going to talk to the registrars. However, all this needs to wait because I am back home, hundreds of miles away from school. I will also email/call but chances are that won't work.

 

[StageLeft]

I have always wondered the point to attendance sheets. My thinking was if you can pass the course without attending then the course work is either useless or the final exam is, but definitely one of them. I once went to a class for a course about four weeks in and the prof in front of everyone asked me if I was in the wrong class. I said something like I'd missed a few. Everyone laughed. I never went back. I got a friend's notes from that class and beat them in the exam. Win. He obviously didn't care if I attended so I didn't either. All I wanted was another credit and I got it.

 

[nageov3t]

I have always wondered the point to attendance sheets. My thinking was if you can pass the course without attending then the course work is either useless or the final exam is, but definitely one of them. I once went to a class for a course about four weeks in and the prof in front of everyone asked me if I was in the wrong class. I said something like I'd missed a few. Everyone laughed. I never went back. I got a friend's notes from that class and beat them in the exam. Win. He obviously didn't care if I attended so I didn't either. All I wanted was another credit and I got it.

I guess it depends on the class and the professor... I got hosed in a poetry workshop class and understandably so (the whole point of the "workshop" being the sitting around and discussing poetry with eachother).

the one professor I had who cared the most about attendance took a different approach. it was an 8 am bio class (and only 1 class, it wasn't like you could miss the Tuesday class but attend the same prof's Wednesday class). he never actually took attendance, but he didn't let us take notes either. and there was no textbook for the course. so if you missed a course, you had to rely on the unreliable memories of your classmates.

 

[Schfifty Five]

I am going to do that but look at it this way. If you never signed up for a class and one day walked in, took all the exams and handed in all the work, at the end of the class would you expect a grade? I totally understand where he was coming from since he had no power to change anything. I was too careless in missing the stupid attendance sheet.

You sound like you've given up already from your posts. I can't believe you would even consider it ok for you to not get credit for this course. You are throwing away probably $500-700, 4 months of time in class, and slowing your progression in your major just because you didn't know to sign an attendance sheet?

Don't get me wrong, that way of determining who's in class and who get's a grade is fucking retarded, but that's another topic. You should be extremely pissed about this since you did the work and should get the grade and credit. Sure it may have been your fault technically for not signing in that attendance sheet, but fuck that, it's a flawed system to begin with.

Go raise hell with them man.

 

[Hacp]

You sound like you've given up already from your posts. I can't believe you would even consider it ok for you to not get credit for this course. You are throwing away probably $500-700, 4 months of time in class, and slowing your progression in your major just because you didn't know to sign an attendance sheet?

Don't get me wrong, that way of determining who's in class and who get's a grade is fucking retarded, but that's another topic. You should be extremely pissed about this since you did the work and should get the grade and credit. Sure it may have been your fault technically for not signing in that attendance sheet, but fuck that, it's a flawed system to begin with.

Go raise hell with them man.

Yes, I am going back after the holidays on the first day of winter sessions to talk to the registrars and possibly the dean. However, right now, going there might be pointless since Friday was basically the end of finals and I think they are closing down the school.

 

[destrekor]

I guess it depends on the class and the professor... I got hosed in a poetry workshop class and understandably so (the whole point of the "workshop" being the sitting around and discussing poetry with eachother).

the one professor I had who cared the most about attendance took a different approach. it was an 8 am bio class (and only 1 class, it wasn't like you could miss the Tuesday class but attend the same prof's Wednesday class). he never actually took attendance, but he didn't let us take notes either. and there was no textbook for the course. so if you missed a course, you had to rely on the unreliable memories of your classmates.

uh.. not allowed to take notes?
what kind of course was this? that sounds all kind of bullshit. how the fuck do you study if there are no course materials?
Were there even tests?

 

[Poulsonator]

uh.. not allowed to take notes?
what kind of course was this? that sounds all kind of bullshit. how the fuck do you study if there are no course materials?
Were there even tests?

No kidding. A biology class at that. There's no way in hell you could pass that class without notes or a book.

 

[mugs]

Yes, I am going back after the holidays on the first day of winter sessions to talk to the registrars and possibly the dean. However, right now, going there might be pointless since Friday was basically the end of finals and I think they are closing down the school.

Dude... you need to find out what the process to appeal is NOW. There is a time limit.

 

[DrPizza]

No kidding. A biology class at that. There's no way in hell you could pass that class without notes or a book.

Weird, I thought he was 16 or 17. Maybe he's just making it up. I've never heard of a class where you couldn't take notes.

 

[nageov3t]

uh.. not allowed to take notes?
what kind of course was this? that sounds all kind of bullshit. how the fuck do you study if there are no course materials?
Were there even tests?

it was more like discussion of theory than fact regurgitation.

 

[mugs]

Weird, I thought he was 16 or 17. Maybe he's just making it up. I've never heard of a class where you couldn't take notes.

Seriously? He's been posting about working in some sort of datacenter for a few years now.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Weird, I thought he was 16 or 17. Maybe he's just making it up. I've never heard of a class where you couldn't take notes.

My wife is a biology professor, and neither she nor her associates nor anyone I knew in academia ever forbade note taking.

I'd love to hear the logic on that one.

 

[dbk]

It is your fault but that is still fuckin lame that he considers attendance as a requirement to pass/fail. You should still appeal... I'm sure he saw you in those two weeks.

 

[Hacp]

It is your fault but that is still fuckin lame that he considers attendance as a requirement to pass/fail. You should still appeal... I'm sure he saw you in those two weeks.

Again, it is not in his control. It is apparently a university thing, probably for state aid. I guess I should have been suspicious when he never took attendance and I never signed a sheet.

 

[waffleironhead]

Attendance in college courses is nothing more than an ego trip for the prof. If you can make an A+ in a class without ever showing up except for tests then why should you go? To stroke the prof's ego? I guess they cannot handle the fact that there are people out there that are smart enough to not NEED THEM to learn something.

The stance of the school I am going to is that they are required/encouraged to take attendance by outside bodies. The military, employers, gov, all want to know if the student they are footing the bill for actually showed up for class.

 

[arcenite]

I would DEFINITELY take that up with the Dean

 

[Bateluer]

I would DEFINITELY take that up with the Dean

I would too. You paid for the class, did all the work(I assume the Professor has written copies of this work?), there's no reason why you shouldn't be given the grade you earned.

 

[Hacp]

My wife is a biology professor, and neither she nor her associates nor anyone I knew in academia ever forbade note taking.

I'd love to hear the logic on that one.

Once I tried to videotape my Professor's lecture with my web cam. I got shut down the first day