Tan and Cardinal

Issue date: 2/21/08 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: greg beers Dunce Cap: Nearly half of full-time college students are in the workforce. Maintaining this balancing act is tough. Instead of being punished for trivial matters such as being late to class, shouldn't professors be more understanding?

Apparently, I pay thousands of dollars a year in tuition to have my teachers penalize my grade when I cannot be in class.
I am a junior this year, and I have a few classes that will penalize me for not coming to class or just being late.
I live 30 minutes from campus and I always leave an hour early, but there are times when I can't be on time for class. I have been stuck in accidents, traffic and sometimes bad weather; like last Tuesday, it just was not worth the risk of driving to school.
Some may argue that it is my choice to study from home, which would be right, but it is cheaper to live at home than on campus.
According to the Otterbein Web site full tuition costs $32,214 to live on campus; off-campus it costs $25,065. That is a significant difference.
How does the saying go? "The customer is always right." Well I'm paying the money to come to school, which makes me the customer.
I think if I choose to show up late for class it should be my decision. And there should not be a penalty, especially if the teacher shows up late on an almost daily basis.
I am old enough to make these kinds of choices on my own. I do not need a "mother-type" professor telling me to be on time.
In the workforce, I know my boss will not tolerate being late, but a lot of students know this already because many students have jobs during college. I have had a job since high school.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Web site, "In October 2006, 20.8 million 16- to 24-year-olds were either enrolled in high school (10.3 million) or college (10.5 million). Among college students, 49.4 percent of those who were enrolled full time also participated in the labor force, while 85.8 percent of part-time college students were in the labor force."
That's almost half of the student body enrolled full-time and employed.

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