I Go Class, I Still Nor Get A: Who dig this pit for me?

 

By Sanni Juliet Oluwadarapupo

On a Thursday afternoon, while scrolling through my WhatsApp status updates, a certain statement drew my attention. It was a statement made from a finalist who was spotlighted as the Final Year Brother (FYB) of the week. The highlight of the post was tagged, MOST PAINFUL EXPERIENCE IN SCHOOL, and he quoted, “Attending a class all through the semester and still ending up with a C.”

For over centuries, the culture of attending classes has been one instilled into the culture of students. From the secondary school era, it was done painstakingly with so much effort that there was an attendance register to keep record of those who were present and those who were not will be faced with the aftermath, punishment. It was a delicate issue; such that truancy was severely dealt with. The number of students per teacher gave room for the activities of the class to be monitored, the teacher knew every face and absentees were well fished out. 

But the story is being told differently in the University. When they say the university is another word entirely, it sure is. Its settings and structure are different and its boundaries are defiled. It is either you exist or not, you are present or not. A class of over hundred plus students with no defined classroom gives room for the unnoticed to thrive well. At the University of Ibadan, the pattern is different. However, life in the university is entirely different from life in Secondary school. The strictness of how attendance is being perceived there is not being practiced here. While some students may have a perfect record of not missing classes, some students have not shown their faces ever since the commencement of the semester nor are their existence known to their mates. Both groups of students still end up with similar grades. So, who made the rule that attending classes is equivalent to passing exams?

However, in all this, there is a saying that goes, “Even freedom in Freetown is not free.” 

This article is not to criticize or create a notion where the act of attending classes is not pivotal but to make known the unknown and shed more light into what links the relationship together. Research has it that attending classes regularly is a precursor for having good grades. According to an article published by the University of Ibadan Journal of Science and Logistics in ICT Research, the research was aimed at measuring factors that aid academic performance while measuring using a computer model (Artificial Neural Network). The study showed that amongst other factors such as health, family background etc. class attendance was a good predictor of how well a student will perform. That is, the more classes a student skips, the chances of doing well becomes slimmer.

Another study was conducted from our neighbouring university in Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria, tagged Association Between Students’ Class Attendance and Academic Performance in The Faculty of Dentistry. It was highlighted that there was a significant correlation between the class attendance and the professional examination marks from the students who partook of it. It was noted that there was a positive association between regular attendance and examination performance, such that students who attended classes frequently did well in their professional examination. Another interesting highlight of the research was that; female students were better with class attendance which made them perform better. How true can we tag that? Well that is a discussion for another article.

Having looked at the data and science of this discussion, backing that class attendance is an indicator for academic excellence, we now think and reason just as sociologists do and question, in the contemporary world, what is obtainable? In a society where perspectives and importance have drifted away from the educational sectors such that with the current situation, it is assumed that on the Nigerian scale of preference, the educational sector sits comfortably at the lower bar. When the system itself does not prioritize education, can we really expect attendance to guarantee academic excellence?

For the purpose of this article, Queens Press reached out to some students to ask about their opinions and to share some of their experiences as regards this argument. For the sake of this article, the students’ real names were not disclosed for confidentiality purposes. 

In an interview with Kate, a 300 level student from the Faculty of Education, she told the press how she recalled what the lecturer said in class and was her saving grace in the examination hall.

“There was this exam I wrote in 100 level; it is not as if I did not read, I read. On getting to the exam hall, I couldn’t recall all that I’ve read. It was so disturbing. But thanks to the Holy spirit who made me recall an example the lecturer used to explain in one of his classes, that was how I was able to answer the question.”  

Still in the conversation with Kate, despite highlighting how she was able to answer her exam question because of a class she attended, she also admitted that it is not a guarantee to academic performance.

“Well as for me, class attendance and academic performance is a two-way thing. Something happened to my classmates and I during our 100 level days. There was a course we borrowed from the faculty of the social science. When the results were out, I couldn’t pinpoint what went wrong? It was obvious that it was a rushed work. There were missing test results, missing matric numbers, wrong summation of test scores and exam scores. So now, do you want to tell me that we did not attend classes? All things are not equal” 

Another student from the Faculty of Clinical Science also affirmed to this stating, “there was a course I did in my 200 level, when the results were released, they were not correlating as the test results were funny. You would be seeing funny marks like 6/40, 5/40. We told the class coordinator though but the change was not effective as we still couldn’t make do with what happened?”

In a dialogue with TK, she mentioned how strategy is very important. “I mean there are strategies for different course. From the very first three classes you attend for a particular course, you would know how it goes. There are some classes that if you miss it, you have banged and banged bad. A theory based question cannot be compared to an objective based question.” She also told the press how she almost missed answering a compulsory question in the exam hall because she missed the class. According to TK, a theory based question is different from that of its counterpart. The style and mode of answering theory questions differs from its counterpart as the answers must be to the lecturer’s expectation. This, she argued makes class attendance crucial.

Kate on the other hands also offered another perspective, she quoted, attending a class in CBN does not determine your academic performance. The reason to the statement stated above is a result of the over population of the students as compared to the lecturer taking a course at the lecture theater, CBN. A lecturer might be assigned to a class of close to 300 students. She also added that a 100 Level CBN student should not be compared with a 100 level student from the Faculty of the Social Science or Education as the mode of questions being asked in the examination is quite different, stating that CBN students answer objectives related questions as compared to the former who deal with theory related question hence making it more intricate. 

The same question was being posed to Dammy and in a conversation with the press, she told the press how she doesn’t attend all classes. She also stated that, some of the classes she attends is as a result of the lecturer mode of teaching. “There are some courses I don’t need to attend classes for, but for some I attend. This is because of the way the lecturer teaches it. I could literally read and pass. While there are some, you just don’t have to miss it.”

Economists will say Ceteris Paribus, all things being equal. And if all things are being equal, attendance should lead to better grades but a lot of factors come into play. In the reality of life, issues might arise, issues relating to grading errors, overcrowded lecture halls, rushed assessment, format of questions could influence academic performance. 

At the end of the day, attending classes is an advantage but not a guarantee. Students should understand that having academic success comes from a mixture of elements. It has to do with a mix of hard work, being smart, motivation, personal study, lecturer’s expectation and most importantly attending classes. For the finalist who shared his most painful moment as him getting a C in a course he attended all classes for, may not depict his effort. It might be as a result of the intersection between the factors that determine academic result.