Don't Really Intend to Attend

Every cat can agree that attendance counting as a percentage of your grade in classes is absurd.

Shouldn't performance be the only factor that decides whether or not you lose points?

The world is driven by results. People don't want to buy your shitty workout video or goofball exercise device if it doesn't produce results. Nobody wants to buy or eat food that tastes like snail turd snacklets even if it was made by the fattest, jolliest, highest attendance cook around. HIM BEING IN THE KITCHEN EVERY DAY WOULD NOT MAKE YOU WANT THE FOOD MORE!

So why does attendance count toward our grade? It is not uncommon for an instructor to count attendance anywhere from 10-20% of total grade. If attendance is worth 15%, that means attendance is worth 150 points out of a total 1000. This is the case even if the instructor thinks she can redefine words because she has a masters in geology. No, miss instructor, uninhabitable and inhabitable do not mean the same thing.

But wait. So your attendance is worth 150 points. This means even if you get 100% on every test and every assignment, you can only get an B in the class if you don't attend lectures. Then, sitting in the corner, you see the guy whose head is shaped like a rectangle. He's smiling and thanking Jesus for his lucky C+'s on all his tests. BUT MANAGES TO GET YOUR SAME SOLID B OVERALL IN THE CLASS BECAUSE HE "ATTENDED?!" Fuck that cat.

Now, the reason some instructors stress attendance so much: Their class is inherently worthless. A class should be difficult enough that if you do not show up, you do not pass simply because you have not learned the material. However, some instructors don't know anything themselves, so they do not actually teach anything of value. They have to punish people directly for the act of not attending, because otherwise those people would succeed. The secret would be out that students don't need to attend the class to do well. Rather than fixing the actual problem (horrible instructors), instructors force students to attend to make themselves look worthwhile.

TL;DR - The classes that you are required to attend are actually the classes which provide nothing.