Of all the reasons to miss class, it is the weather excuse that bugs me the most.
Over half of my students in the 3 pm class failed to show up for my lecture on Catalan nationalism. When I asked the rest what was happening, they told me that the weather was too nice to be in class. And that really bugs me.
If at least we lived in a climate where people only see the sun once or twice a year, I would find this somewhat easier to understand. But we have had this hot and sunny weather since March. How painful is it to dedicate 50 minutes of one’s life to being in the classroom instead of outside?
I don’t want to sound like a frumpy ancient creature who doesn’t understand the young people, but I’m tempted to ask how these kids imagine their future in the workplace. Isn’t it time they grew up already?
This is such a good lecture, and it annoys me that so many people missed it. Now they will not be able to understand half of what I say in class and will slow things down for the responsible students who did show up.
Clarissa's Blog 
When I saw your title of this post, I was expecting something like “Having your car crashed into your home by a tornado is not an excuse to not fulfill your obligations.”
However, I also encountered this selfsame excuse for not class attendance a couple of weeks ago. I do not recall it ever happening before. Fewer than half of the class was in attendance. I asked “Where is everybody?” and was given the same comment by the students in attendance as you got.
I gave an easy impromptu bonus quiz which could pull up the grades of the students who were there.
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I’m not unreasonable. If it had been a tornado, I would have had no objection. But warm sunny weather is something so frequent in these parts that I’m just annoyed.
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+28 at the end of October…I can understand somewhat their behavior. But they will pay the price later.
“I’m tempted to ask how these kids imagine their future in the workplace. ”
This lecture has nothing to do with their future workplace, except maybe for some individual…
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But the instances of good weather will repeat. How will they force themselves to sit in a cubicle when it’s sunny outside?
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Because a salary will be there.
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That salary will go to pay for the loans they have taken out to pay for the lectures that they are missing. Makes a ton of sense.
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David Bellamy has the correct approach. Always provide benefits to those who turn up when many do not. Never repeat what you said in the missed class. And refuse to be drawn by questioins from those who were absent. Make sure that the final examination has a pointed question on the high absentee lecture.
That is what grading and incentives are all about.
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” Make sure that the final examination has a pointed question on the high absentee lecture.”
– This is exactly what I will do. This is a crucially important issue for Spain today, so I will assign a question worth 25% of the final exam to it. You are right, the responsible students have to be rewarded.
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“Make sure that the final examination has a pointed question on the high absentee lecture.” Exactly!
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I’d love to listen in to one of your lectures, especially political ones. How do you feel about videotaping your classes?
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I would totally dig that but I don’t think I would be allowed to tape a lecture and make it public. I asked for permission to make my online lectures on Hispanic Civ available to the general public and I was denied permission on the grounds of protecting student privacy. And then there is the issue of whose intellectual property these lectures are. If I tape them at home with no students present and not using my work-issued computer, that is allowed. But taping them on campus is not.
We have so many ethics guidelines, my head is spinning.
I feel very re-vindicated to see that people online want to listen to my lectures when some of my students don’t, so thank you for making me feel better!!
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Could you make a podcast available by email only? Then they wouldn’t be public.
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If I tape them at home, I can just publish them here.
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No excuses. Specific question on today’s lecture in your next exam.
Where I work the weather is shitty. When the weather is suddenly nice I bring my students outside and give a lecture under a tree. On Friday it is supposed to be +20 celcius (usually it is supposed to be around 8 celcius here at that time of the year), and I teach language classes on that day. I will bring my student outside to take a walk on campus, asking them questions about buildings, locations, student life, and the university history, as if I were visiting the place for the first time. It will be fun.
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