Tran Ba Hung - 70193052TPE1

Assignment 1: Write a three-paragraph essay to show your opinions on the

following comment: “Attendance at college classes should be optional.”

Optional attendance to college classes has been an increasingly popular way for
students to study in quite a few countries. However, it has not yet had its intended
results as it had been hoped. In fact, today, this system seems to be one of the reasons
for the corruption of university education. In my opinion, compulsory attendance is
better than optional attendance for all the college classes for some reasons.

Firstly, one side will say that university students are adults and should be able to
manage their time as they see fit. This viewpoint says that sometimes, in today’s busy
world, people need flexibility to manage their lives. For example, many single parents
who are trying to earn their college degrees will sometimes need to skip a class
because of the demands of their other responsibilities. However, I believe that the great
majority of college students are young and single, and have few responsibilities, and
that is a reason they need the discipline and structure of a system that requires
attendance. Secondly, there are many negative situations caused by the free-
attendance system. The most harmful one is the economic waste for both universities
and students. Many students who do not attend classes regularly are likely to suffer
decreased performance on their exams and therefore waste their time in college. They,
generally, do not feel panic because of the failures or restudying the same subjects for
the second time. However, this sometimes costs a fortune to both parents and the
government that have created tax-funded subsidies for education for each student every
year. Not only are the university fees wasted, but also the money for accommodations
and other spending are also wasted. On the other hand, students who are required to
attend classes regularly have no time wasting in harmful activities such as gambling,
drinking or drug. I do not mean they are only to study without any break or
entertainment. Their social life is as necessary as studying during the hard academic
years, yet, the amount of each should be balanced well. More spare time than
necessary encourages the young to ignore studying and classes. Thus, neither the
universities nor the students do their best if the students have too much freedom not to
study.

To sum up, a scheduled chart of classes will help students to construct an ideal
campus life including leisure activities. In addition, this will stop the waste of time and
money and is likely to reevaluate the higher education system in several years. In short,
I believe that the majority of college students are too young to manage their time
responsibly and the colleges should therefore impose strict rules on the student
attendance.