The pandemic has highlighted flaws in professors’ teaching

After over a year of distance learning, nearly everybody is itching to get back into the classroom full-time. As a first-year student, all I know about how Hofstra functions is within the context of the pandemic, but I desperately want the traditional college experience I’ve heard so much about. From both what I’ve observed and what I’ve been told, the degree to which professors have managed to adapt their curricula to the hybrid model is highly variable. I’ve had professors who have flat out said a student should drop the class if they’re not comfortable being in-person because they refuse to change their exercises so that they can be done virtually, and I’ve also had professors who have been relatively successful teaching over Zoom (although they bemoan the fact that they have to do it). While conducting class over a webcam obviously has its challenges, I’ve realized that the biggest mistakes professors are making don’t have to do with the online format at all – it’s to do with their unreasonable expectations about how students should function.

All my professors save one mandate that our cameras are always turned on during a Zoom class, claiming that it’s to ensure that everyone is present. While upon first glance this may seem like a strictly digital issue, this rule is actually an extension of the unflinching mandatory attendance policies that have existed for decades. My question is: why are attendance policies a thing? Why is there an expectation that students are to be present for every class without fail? Professors can cancel or modify class without providing a reason, so why students aren’t given the same leeway? If the pandemic has taught us one thing, it’s that the unexpected happens all the time and that sometimes you need to put your health first. Whether being present means logging in on time or having the camera turned on and dressed business casual, it’s unreasonable to believe that the students have the capacity – physically or mentally – to always do so. 

Attendance isn’t the only thing that professors preach yet fail to practice. Despite the mental toll the pandemic has levied on everyone in the past year, they still rapidly assign work with harsh deadlines that often fall on days when the classes don’t meet. With the advent of modern technology, there is increasingly less leniency for when students are expected to work. There seems to be an invalid assumption on the part of the faculty that students should now have more free time and can submit multiple assignments weekly, at the professor’s leisure. The same professors who believe this to be true are also notorious for taking weeks to return comments and post grades. Why should we be penalized for being late to turn in work when they are no better? Punctuality is important but being a day late shouldn’t warrant a failing grade, especially when the entire world’s timetable is in flux. 

I will say that some faculty members are incredibly compassionate and willing to work with students when problems arise; unfortunately, they seem to be the exception and not the standard. The pandemic has turned the world upside-down, but in some cases, it hasn’t changed things enough. Almost everyone at Hofstra is paying tens of thousands of dollars to attend and yet the school is unwilling to accommodate for students while they are struggling. What I’m asking for from Hofstra is to give us a little leniency, which I don’t think is too much to ask for. After all, a little leniency goes a long way.