Dear editor,

In Tad Walters’ column, “Loyola resembles high school in several ways,” I only found one point that I agreed with. This point is that the freshman visitation rights are stupid. In this aspect, I thoroughly agree with him. Freshmen should not have restricted visitation because there is no just cause for it. However, besides this single point, I disagree with everything he says in his column.

First, Walters complains about attendance policies. Yes, from time to time students have to or choose to miss/skip a class for various reasons; however, this does not mean that there should be no attendance policy. Quite frankly, I believe that if you came here intending not to go to class, then you really should not be at this school, or any other university for that matter. Also, some professors offer bonuses instead of penalties for class attendance, so not all attendance policies are “detrimental.”

I also object to his issues with daily assignments, homework and quizzes. Some courses require daily practice. An example would be any chemistry course. Having these assignments and quizzes reinforces the material.

The very things Walter complains about are meant to help students’ grades, especially in difficult courses like organic chemistry, where the class average on every test is a D. When a grade is solely based on tests and papers, a student may be stuck with a poor grade for the course by slipping up just once. While these assignments are time consuming, they are necessary.

Walters’ most egregious claim, however, is that it is not the responsibility of the professor to ensure that the student learns. This notion baffles me to no end. If professors are not meant to help ensure that we learn, then why are we paying them? Yes, students must study on their own time; however, if a professor is not trying to ensure that students learn, then it is pointless for college classes to even exist. This is not LSU where the classes consist of hundreds of students. Loyola has small classes where the students can come to learn from their professor. To suggest otherwise is a fallacy.

Sincerely,

Michael Cain

Psychology/pre-health junior