College professors and instructors are like professional athletes. Their contracts are settled before the season begins and have virtually nothing to do with attendance.

Ball players and teachers both still get paid even if they don’t pack the house. So, why do some teacher make attendance mandatory?

In sports or education, to achieve a high attendance figures the product must be good. No one wants to show up to watch a bad team and the same principle applies to a bad class.

However, by using attendance clauses, many college professors attempt to force students to show up for class.

That unfortunate situation is very similar to when a pro team threatens to move to another city. The team says, “You’re not coming to see us so we’re going to make you pay.”

Professors can’t threaten to move, but they can institute policies that negatively affect grades for a student’s lack of attendance. The teacher isn’t offering a product that students want so, he or she simply forces pupils to attend.

“I have to go to class.” How many millions of times have Eastern students muttered that phrase in utter disdain?

At the same time have you ever heard someone say, “I have to go to the ball game?” Certainly not. Even season ticket holders don’t have to show up to watch a poor team. And lets face it, students pay for full semester’s tuition, so in essence they are season ticket holders to their courses. So what can be done to get the fans interested? Well, most pro sporting leagues have commissioners, so I’ll leave those problems up to them. As for classes, some teachers need to improve the product if they want students to show up. Simply put, give students a reason to go to class.

If the incentives must be points-driven give quizzes or short in-class assignments instead of vacuous “thanks-for-filling-a-seat points.”

Lectures shouldn’t exist as verbatim reviews derived directly from the textbook. Most serious students got tired of that teaching method by high school.

Why should students show up for class if they can stay home, read the chapter summaries in the textbook and still get an A? Being able to ace a class by perusing the textbook is like watching a game on TV.

The ballpark offers fans more than what they can get from TV and class sessions should offer students more than what they can get from a textbook.

And for the grizzled veterans of the teaching profession, it never hurts to change your class every decade or so. Otherwise, every frathouse to outhouse in Coles County probably has a J. Edgar Hoover-esque file on you and so the house’s constituents have no reason to attend class.

What it all boils down to is that teachers need to give students reasons to attend class, not repercussions. Teach outside the book, give a quiz, or even try having a personality and sharing it with the class. If a teacher can’t attempt to do at least one of those things they should expect empty seats and they shouldn’t punish students for finding better ways to spend their time.

Pat Guinane is a senior journalism major and a columnist for The Daily Eastern News. His e-mail address is [email protected]. Columns are the opinion of the author.