The obstacle universities present to solving the problem
Aside from the obvious problems that skipping class causes is the fact that parents have no way to verify that their child is going to class or to hold him accountable. By the time the grades are issued it is too late. Even then, there is no way of knowing whether it was an attendance problem or some other factor that impacted his grades. Few students would confess that skipping class was a part of the reason for their poor performance.
To make matters worse colleges do not assist parents with this issue. In fact, most of them prefer to keep the parents at arm's length in the process. They are glad to take your money but don't provide the tools needed to keep you involved and informed. Some of that is due to FERPA laws which prevent sharing information freely, but most of it is due to their belief that they can develop students into being self-motivated. The numbers speak to their inability to do that for a significant percentage of students.
Until now, there has been no reliable method for parents to be partners in their child’s education process beyond paying the bills and waiting for grades to be posted. Most parents do not even realize this until they are going through orientation or the semester has begun.
Most parents expect that their child will attend faithfully. One of the great principles of leadership is that you inspect what you expect. Students were accountable every day from kindergarten through high school. They will be responsible for attendance once they enter the workforce. It makes no sense for them to have no accountability while in college because so much is at stake both economically as well as professionally. It is also an age where many of them do not always make the wisest decisions. The consequences for skipping class are ones they believe they can delay, overcome, or avoid altogether. Unfortunately many are incorrect in that assumption.
