One of the biggest things you will hear before coming to college is that teachers will be strict about attendance, and if you don’t attend class, you will fail, but that’s not necessarily true.

We currently live in an era of technology, where anything we need can be done through an electronic device. That includes our classes, which COVID-19 made a reality.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we were all locked in our homes. We could not attend face-to-face classes or lectures, so what was the solution? Online classes.

For a year, we were all bound to our homes and had to attend classes and submit assignments through electronic sites such as Canvas or Google Classroom. Although we have steered away from that, some of the remnants remain. At least in my experience, all the material for classes, along with how every assignment is submitted, is still done through electronic mediums.

This means, for better or worse, that all that is being taught in the classroom and that is being turned in in the class can be done from the comfort of your bed, without ever setting foot within a class.

Should we stop going to classes altogether and do everything at home? No, of course not, that’s a terrible idea. While it can be done that way, attending class still provides useful advantages and experience.

For one, you can ask questions to the teacher. When sitting at home reading materials, if you don’t understand something, you are stumped (or searching the web for hours to find three different answers to the topic). That problem doesn’t happen in the classroom.

If something is confusing, you can raise your hand and ask the teacher, which saves you the time it would have taken to get the information yourself. According to Northern Star, the publication voice for NIU, “Showing up is how students learn the material. Although there are classes offered online asynchronously, studies show students learn better when they are in the classroom.”

Secondly, teachers tend to give more information in a class than in their online modules. Teachers tend to add connecting details that make a topic easier to understand. They can also provide additional information on a topic that would be too lengthy or too difficult to understand if typed in a PowerPoint.

According to Educause, “Attendance matters not only because it enables the transfer of content knowledge within a particular course or student activity, but attendance provides students with access to other, noncontent-specific contextual information, resources, and relationships that can positively impact their knowledge and sense of belonging.”

Lastly, you don’t get the outside perspectives or understanding from your peers. We have all potentially learned a thing or two from someone we went to class with, whether that be a better way of interpreting through a different lens than how the teacher says it, or just easier ways to do something than how it’s described in the textbook. This isn’t possible if you are just at home alone, reading the modules on your own.

You also gain support from your peers, allowing for greater motivation to perform well in classes. According to the Attendance Percentage Calculator site, “Regular attendance fosters strong connections with teachers and peers, building a supportive learning environment.”

So is attendance necessary? That’s for you to decide. Be mindful that attendance is graded in most classes on campus, and your attendance grade can be the difference between passing and failing.

Also, with the attendance policy of most classes on campus, missing too many classes results in automatic failure. In that case, attendance is essential.