I'm compiling attendance for the semester. Some of my students have perfect or near-perfect attendance. They're the ones who shook my hand at the end of the final lecture and said they'd love to take another of my classes. Most have a few absences scattered around but it's nothing much to worry about. About four or five have abysmal attendance and missed weeks at a time without explanation. One of them NEVER showed up. These aren't cases where they just plain disappeared and never did any work. They actually did do the online assignments. Looking at their actual work, their grades are okay but then they crater once I deduct points for excessive absences.
My attendance policy is clearly outlined. Everybody gets one free unexcused absence but then I start chipping away at their grade when the absences pile up. It's on the first page of my syllabus. I've mentioned it in class several times AND I put that up on online course announcements. I'm already getting a trickle of panicky, groveling emails asking me if there's any way they can pass. I even got a shameless grade-grubbing email where the student asked if I can "find enough points for a C or something." Once grades are submitted, I anticipate a flood of grade grubbers. They'll come at me with the usual sob stories. They NEED this basketball scholarship (the worst ones are always basketball or football players), they've been depressed, they had an argument with their Mom, etc. I do indeed work with students who suffer from documented mental health issues and they're diligent about asking for extensions. Some years back I even had a student who was suicidal. Again, we worked with him and got him help. The grade grubbers are just making shit up. At least they're no longer composing fake stories of family members getting shot at parties.
I also have students who missed the final because of poor time management or they mixed up final exam time slots. I am willing to accommodate them because things like that happen. I just send them an alternate version of the exam and they are glad to get the new lease on life. Most other professors are reasonable when it comes to that sort of thing too. Momentary lapses in judgement are fine, but missing two straight months of classes indicates willful lassitude. One of my chronically absent students turned in a paper three weeks after the due date. I said I couldn't accept it and he fibbed about sending it in on time (time stamps indicate that was a lie). He threatened to take it to the dean but I called his bluff. I'm sure someone with his qualifications would have no trouble finding a top-flight job in either the food service or housekeeping industries.
Now, the good news is my culinary history class passed their final project with flying colors. I had each of them prepare and share a historical dish of their choosing. Most of them used family recipes passed down through generations. This is an HBCU, so that meant hush puppies, jerk chicken, beignets, tea cakes, okra stew, pork jowl, and hoppin' john. The food was great and I felt like sleeping for a year after that. Students like that remind me why I do what I do.