I understand that those who missed were maximizing their utility. So was I - I get utility out of seeing my students learn, and it's seldom the good students who consistently miss class. So part of the job is designing a mechanism that encourages behaviour that leads to sudents' success. creating a
Of the 11 who were absent, 9 of them were in the bottom quartile of my class. And many of them were the ones who ask questions on material that they covered in class and take up valuable time that would be better spent on those whosw utility functions include getting everything they can out of class (rather than just getting OUT of class).
It's like the biblical story of the workers who worked all day and were given a day's wage for their work. A second group of workers were recruited late in the day and worked only a few hours. When the second group were also given a full day's pay, the first group complained of the unfairness (after all, they'd worked a full day, and the second group had worked only a few hours and got the same pay). The boss said, "you got what you had agreed to. What's it to you if I gave another group a break?" (my paraphrase)
Likewise, those who were missing weren't penalized by my giving the other students extra points, because I don't grade them relative to each other. They made their choice. In fact, they made the choice knowing full well that it would hurt them. This is because a portion of their grade is based on classroom participation, and they obviously can't contribute if they're not there.
One of the secrets to success in class and in life is showing up, because you often get unexpected benefits from being in the right place at the right time.
Having said that, it's their perogative to not show up. And it's mine to award the behavior that I think contributes to success. I used to think that taking steps like this was treating the students like children. Unfortunately, over time (and I've been doing this for over ten years now), I've realized that although we call them "young adults", many of them are still more young than adult. So things like this often serve to teach them valuable lessons.
And if not, it appeals to my sense of humor.
Your results may differ, and you're welcome to use them in your class.
Boo Hiss.
It makes economic sense to maximise utility. Obviously a non-quiz class has less utility than an hour in the fresh air and sunshine for 11 of your students. Especially if the student had done well on Wednesday's quiz, it seems perfectly reasonable to skip a class and take some R&R. Making a particular class attendence worth marks without any prior notice is petulant. If I was an A student who'd aced the Wednesday quiz and decided to skip the following class I would not be impressed by this action.
If your classes aren't interesting and useful enough for the student's to CHOOSE to attend your class instead of fresh air and sunshine it is your problem as a teacher, NOT their's as partners in learning.
Just imposing a penalty for not attending a class is poor pedagogy.
F- for effort.
Commenting by HaloScan
