Are there any college professors on the Escapist who might lend their opinion on this situation?

[kurupt87]

He is a prof at an Open Uni, not a "proper" one. He will love to flex his power when he can. If he is within his right there's naught you can really do.

There should still be a student body that you can get in contact with and try to launch an appeal with though, try that.

 

[Superlative]

I'm not a professor, but I am applying for TA positions and I have to wonder what kind of class was this and how much you communicated with your professor. If the class was once a week I can understand where your prof came from. Also, if you didn't bother to get the book, didn't do your homework, missed tons of classes, and never gave me a reason for your actions then I would drop you as well.

Your prof is generally not going to go out of his way to help you if you never speak with them, they will simply assume you're lazy. If you tell them you are too broke to afford the book for a while or the bookstore messed up they will work with you. If you let them know you are confused by the work or that you have come down with something nasty they will figure out a way to not fail you. The key in all this is you letting the prof know that you are not lazy and are willing to do the work but are having to deal with outside issues.

Capatcha: evil genius...oddly fitting.

 

[Amakusa]

Not a prof but a student.

Hmm at my uni there is the 80% attendance rule. If you don't turn up for 80% of the course classes, you will fail the whole course. So the uni lecturer/prof won't kick you out of the course but you'll get failed. Obviously if your sick and all that, as long as you give the lecturer a medical cert or something like that it's all cool. Personally i think the 80% rule is pretty fair when i compare it to the system i read from the OP.

As for advice, make a formal complaint if you think it has merit. Also get a medical certificate for your cold as well. That might help your case.

 

[Zeldias]

Today, one of my professors dropped me from the course due to my lack of attendance. My local community college has an unusually strict attendance policy; if you miss more than 3 classes, the professor teaching the course is allowed to drop you from the class. If you miss more than 10 classes and your professor hasn't dropped you, you'll be dropped automatically by the school.

On the second day of classes, my professor kicked me out of class for not having the textbook. The next week, he kicked me out again for not having my homework fully completed. This would have been an understandable punishment if he'd done the same thing to another student missing her work in the last class, but he didn't.

Then, in a run of bad luck, I caught a nasty cold and was out of class for 3 days. Obviously this put me well beyond the maximum allotment of unexcused absences and my professor is well within his rights to drop me; I just can't help but feel like he's making an example of me or just looking for reasons to get rid of me.

In the days where I've been in attendance and he hasn't kicked me out, I hadn't seen him deal with any other student in the same way he dealt with me.

And that's it. There's literally nothing more to the story. I'm mostly to blame for this, I know, but it still doesn't feel like he's made any attempt to give me a proper chance.

I was a prof. What I Love about stories like this is that you totally don't talk about what YOU did. Did you contact the prof about troubles getting the book (if there were any)? Did you let him know you'd be missing classes when you got the cold? Isn't it entirely possible that the other students were performing better as students than you were?

It's hard to say whether the guy was wrong or not when we have no clue what you did to try to perform within the parameters laid out for the class. You're framing it like he was unfair to you, but we don't know if you worked hard to let him know anything about any odd circumstances, we don't know if you have previous history with the guy, we don't know whether you were chronically late or otherwise antagonistic or dismissive in class, we don't know if you were ever on time with the work assigned.

In short, there's way too much for anyone to make a legitimate call on this.

Also, congrats to the butthole that mocked the professor for teaching at what I guess isn't a good enough school for you ("He'll flex his power whenever he can,"). Hope it made your balls/clitoris feel big.

To other folks saying "I paid, blah blah," you paid to be a student at the school, you didn't pay to ignore all the rules. If you don't like that, go do something else with your damn time. You can learn reading in the library, too. Leave the people who want academic community and mentorship to it and get your learn on elsewhere if you can't be bothered to follow the rules at the institution that you chose to attend and spend all that money. Tired of this fucking corporate university mentality and spoiled ass consumer students who think they're entitled to a degree for blowing a lot of cash.

 

[RedDeadFred]

Not a Prof but am currently in my final year of university.

What class was it? I can understand SOME classes having this rule but not most. If it's a class with very few students, then I could understand if the Prof didn't want to waste their time on you (not saying you're a waste of time). Classes with a very small amount of students tend to have the Prof adapt his teaching to each individual student. As far as your sick days, why didn't you just get a Dr's note if you knew about this policy. I am taking teaching and because it is a "Professional Faculty" students are expected to behave in a professional manner. That means NO unexcused absences.

 

[RedDeadFred]

Not a Prof but am currently in my final year of university.

What class was it? I can understand SOME classes having this rule but not most. If it's a class with very few students, then I could understand if the Prof didn't want to waste their time on you (not saying you're a waste of time). Classes with a very small amount of students tend to have the Prof adapt his teaching to each individual student. As far as your sick days, why didn't you just get a Dr's note if you knew about this policy. I am taking teaching and because it is a "Professional Faculty" students are expected to behave in a professional manner. That means NO unexcused absences.

 

[RedDeadFred]

Not a Prof but am currently in my final year of university.

What class was it? I can understand SOME classes having this rule but not most. If it's a class with very few students, then I could understand if the Prof didn't want to waste their time on you (not saying you're a waste of time). Classes with a very small amount of students tend to have the Prof adapt his teaching to each individual student. As far as your sick days, why didn't you just get a Dr's note if you knew about this policy. I am taking teaching and because it is a "Professional Faculty" students are expected to behave in a professional manner. That means NO unexcused absences.

 

[DragonStorm247]

Dropping for missed days? Understandable.

Making you miss days for any reason? Not so much.

 

[maxben]

I don't really get such rules. I went to a really high-level university where I am at and they didn't care if you showed up or not. Some classes marked you for attendance, others didn't, but no one would drop you for lack of attendance. I was very bad at showing up to class, but I managed to get through everything just fine because I love personal study.

 

[C_sector]

I go to university in Australia, our academic staff dont kick out students who dont attend classes. I still dont see any good reason academic staff would do that. We are provided with lecture recordings for most of our lectures and when our attendence is marked for some subjects it counts to 10% of our overall mark. Basically, we can choose to attend or not... though it is in our best interest that we do attend. The academic staff still get paid no matter what, even the lecturers say this.

Finally, from my understanding the only way to get kicked out of classes (.. or your degree) is by failing EVERY subject in a year..... oh and cheating on exams.....

 

[mysecondlife]

Not a college professor but I'll leave my input here...
--
Yikes, he kicked you out for not having textbook? My professors know that textbooks are expensive and we like to get it in cheapest ways possible (which is often not the fastest way to get your hands on it). They are pretty lenient about not having it for first week or two.

And kicking you out of the classroom for not completing your homework? That doesn't sit right with me either..

 

[Pinkamena]

That's crazy. At my university (and all others that I know of), you don't have to attend a single of the classes. It is very common for people to study on their own. Also, how in the world will the professor be able to take attendance for everybody in the class? In many of them there can be well over 100 or 200.

 

[gunny1993]

HMmm my uni has a unofficial policy wherein if you have low attendance (Which none of the professors take btw, because they don't give a damn about "higher up" bureaucracy) but good grades, then nothing is said.

For instance I'm missing the first week of term to stay in Germany for oktoberfest ... although granted i'm telling my tutor that i need to finish up a experiment XD.

 

[MindFragged]

Wow. American colleges are tough.

I know it works differently in that you take a lot of classes rather than focusing on a major (we don't really have majors so much as the single area you are studying with modules), but wow. I sympathise with tutors who have to carry dead weight like I was some times, but I never ran crying when I didn't do well in a class I didn't invest myself in.

That said, I honestly think that for what you guys pay (we had a minor riot in the UK when the cap on tuition fees were raised to £9,000 a year!) you should be able to attend or not attend, and let the chips fall where they may. I imagine it might have something to do with a tutor not wanting to sully their record with students who get bad grades because they don't try (or in your case, had a run of bad luck and some lacklustre performance), but it still seems harsh.

I'd say try talking to the guy. I'm sure he has excluded a fair few people in his time, but I imagine very few of them have actually tried contacting him promptly afterwards to explain themselves reasonably and ask for another shot.

 

[Lieju]

That's crazy. At my university (and all others that I know of), you don't have to attend a single of the classes. It is very common for people to study on their own. Also, how in the world will the professor be able to take attendance for everybody in the class? In many of them there can be well over 100 or 200.

Yeah, one of the first things we were told was that 'you aren't in high school anymore. If you think you don't have to attend lectures, don't.' at Helsinki university.

Of course since it's a public uni, anyone can attend the lectures, so I don't think the professors would even be allowed to throw you out unless you are being distruptive.

Lab work and such is a different story, though, and since it might be dangerous, you might be thrown out much more easily. (For keeping your hair down or something.)

 

[jurnag12]

As someone who just started college, I´m surprised by the leniency they give you. Where I go to, you can miss a class once. ONCE. If you have a perfectly valid reason ad report it on time (The day of absence, between 8 and 9 in the morning) through the correct channels.

If you miss a second one, you're generally kicked out of the course.

But to get on-topic; I think that while the first 2 strikes were valid, in my opinion, he should've given you a way to make up for the classes you missed due to illness, seeing as that's beyond your control. Extra homework, write some summaries, tutor students who are struggling with the subject matter (If you're doing well with it yourself), or something else of the kind.

 

[Strazdas]

First of all he shouldnt have kicked you out for not having a textbook or not finishing your homework. the first one is a non-issue to begin with. its your loss you dont have one, not his business though. it only affects him if you are unable to do your duties becuase of it. either way, he shouldnt have a right to kick you for this.
Your lack of homework may cause your grade to be lower, but it should not be a kick from the class.
Either way, neither of those two kicks should count as not attending. you attended, the professor is at fault for you not being here.

As for being sick, did you contact your doctor? if you did, then he should have marked it in his system (or written a paper if you still use that system) and providing such information to your colledge makes it excusable miss. your heath is more important and doctors take precedent.

conclusion: the professor should be fired, as he obviuosly does not know how to conduct class.

To other folks saying "I paid, blah blah," you paid to be a student at the school, you didn't pay to ignore all the rules. If you don't like that, go do something else with your damn time. You can learn reading in the library, too. Leave the people who want academic community and mentorship to it and get your learn on elsewhere if you can't be bothered to follow the rules at the institution that you chose to attend and spend all that money. Tired of this fucking corporate university mentality and spoiled ass consumer students who think they're entitled to a degree for blowing a lot of cash.

I pay them much more than i would if i hired a damn private teacher.
I pay them to:
a) teach me.
b) check whether i learned what they taught (test me).
c) grade me and give appropriate paperwork.
Meanwhile, i sign in to learn and fill the gaps of what they wanted to teach and were inacapable of.

If a professor is teaching us a course i have already listened from 4 other professors, what do i gain by attending? Why should i be forced to waste my time listening to him saying things i already know? Surely, as long as i know the thing i will pass the b) and they can proceed to c). if they are unable to teach me anything new what right have they to demand for me to attend?
(though i have to give him props for being able to talk about short liquidity for 3 hours non-stop when the thing takes 3 minutes to explain. he has a talent of talking about nothing for hours.)

People are entitles to a degree if they can show they have a proper knowledge, not if they have a lot of time to blow off for sitting in classes. rate the results, not time spent in class. some people will need to sit for 3 hours, some will get it in 15 minutes.