Should Class Attendance Be Required
　　Required class attendance is so common at colleges and universities that many teachers and even students themselves simply assume it is a good thing. In fact, required class attendance does more harm than good.
　　There are several reasons that teachers should not require attendance. First, rigid attendance policies do not benefit students' studies. For example, a student may have to give up a lecture which he finds important to his studies simply because of rigid attendance polices which is a contributing factor to his course performance. Second, the lectures of some teachers are not always constructive. A student should be allowed to decide for himself whether an in-class experience is worthwhile when his teacher merely repeats material from the textbook. Finally and most importantly, there is no proven correlation between attendance and performance in a course. A student may never miss a single attendance in a course, but it doesn't mean that he has acquired the knowledge of this course.
　　Required class attendance may secure one hundred percent attendance for a course, but it does not make much sense.          (179 words)

attendance  n. 出席，参加
assume  v. 假设，承担
rigid  adj. 僵硬的，死板的
contributing  adj.
贡献的,起作用的
performance  n.
表现，性能，行为
constructive  adj.
建设性的，积极的
correlation   n. 相互的关系



Every man is the master of his own fortune.
每个人都是自己命运的主宰。
--Steels  斯蒂尔斯

是否应该要求上课出勤率
　　要求上课出勤率在学院和大学变得如此普遍，以至于许多老师甚至是学生自己都认为这是件好事。其实，要求上课出勤率是弊大于利。
　　出于一些原因，老师不应该要求出勤。首先，死板的出勤点名政策对学生的学习没有好处。例如，一个学生可能不得不放弃一个据他发现对自己学习很重要的课程，仅仅是因为死板的出勤点名政策，出勤率是他课程成绩中的重要因素。其次，有些老师的课不总是有建设性的。如果老师只是在重复课本中的材料的话，应该允许学生自己决定这样的上课经历是否有价值。最后，也是最重要的，出勤率和课程成绩之间没有确凿的联系。一个学生在某门课上也许从未缺勤过，但是这不意味着他已经学会了这门课的知识。
　　要求上课出勤率可以确保课程百分之百的出勤率，但是这没有多大意义。

1. First, rigid attendance policies do not benefit students' studies. 首先，死板的出勤点名政策对学生的学习没有好处。
2. Second, the lectures of some teachers are not always constructive. 其次，有些老师的课不总是有建设性的。
3. A student should be allowed to decide for himself whether an in-class experience is worthwhile when his teacher merely repeats material from the textbook. 如果老师只是在重复课本中的材料的话，应该允许学生自己决定这样的上课经历是否有价值。