Is it fine to cancel class on days before national holidays, due to low attendance?

Question

So, thanksgiving break is coming up. On my campus, a large portion of the students leave early Wednesday to get back home. The break doesn't officially start until Thursday, but since that is the holiday the students (understandably) leave earlier.

I teach on Wednesdays (among other days). I had forgotten about this poor attendance when I planned my syllabus and am currently planning to teach new material next Wednesday.

Now, I anticipate about 75% of the class (50 total students) will be absent. They knew I would be teaching new material that day, since it was on the syllabus.

Do I cancel class so that the majority of students don't miss a lecture? Do I hold class but post my lecture notes so that the students who missed could (theoretically, at least) make up the work they missed on their own?

If I cancel class, I could shift around material so that nothing is lost (by moving a review day). However, something feels "wrong" about cancelling a class that the university has scheduled to occur because the students decided they wanted to start their vacation early.

Is it fine to cancel a class because you don't expect many students to attend?

Answer 1

I have known a number of professors who took a third approach: on an expected low-attendance class day such as the day before Thanksgiving, they held a lecture, but did not make it part of the "standard" curriculum. Instead, they would schedule some sort of fun and exciting "bonus material," like a notable guest speaker or a cool demonstration. That way, those students who showed up got something out of coming, but the ones whose plans prevented them from being there didn't have any missed "core" material to make up.

Answer 2

I agree with other answers that, in general, it is defensible either to hold class on such a day, or not hold it. However, your question is different because you're asking it now, less than a week before the day in question. I'd like to make the point that, if you are making the decision at this late date, I think you are honor bound to do something to compensate the students who would have attended because they have already planned their shcedule in order to do so.

Many students arrange rides, trains, plane flights, etc., to go home for Thanksgiving, and if they know they have class on that day and thought it was important, they may already have configured their schedules to attend. As someone who has not forgotten what it is like to be a student, I can say that it really sucks to be in that situation and then have the professor cavalierly cancel class, leaving you (the student) in the position of having postponed your trip home for no reason.

Realistically, the only way you can do this is to hold class and make it worth attending. You could do this by making it "fun" (although I think that has to mean more than just "a cool topic" -- at least bring muffins or something to reward the diehards) or, preferably, by making it genuinely useful. Depending on what the class is about, you could spend some extra time on a difficult topic, perhaps go through some example problems (if it's that kind of class), so that those who attend will get extra practice that will actually help them in the class. If your syllabus always clearly showed that class was scheduled, and you haven't given any hint of it not being, it could also be defensible to hold some sort of trivial "pop quiz" that would give a few extra points to those who attend. (You can find other questions on this site with opinions on the ethics of this, but if you have reserved a portion of the class grade for attendance or participation, this is the time to use it to give people a bonus for showing up.)

In short, in general it is defensible to cancel class on a day when few people are expected to show up, but if you do that you have to telegraph your intentions early on. I don't think it's acceptable to cancel class for such a reason on less than a week's notice, when students may have already arranged their schedules based on their belief that class will be held. To do so is unfair to students who took you at your (and your syllabus's) word, and penalizes exactly the stalwart and upstanding students who made their plans in order to be able to go to class as scheduled, while rewarding those who had already made the decision to play hookey.

I do think, though, that you could possibly announce what you are doing on that day. In other words, you could say, "Oops, I forgot about Thanksgiving. We'll still be holding class, and it will be [whatever -- review session, quiz for participation points, etc.]." This will make it clear to the students who are coming that they are going to get something out of it, and also make it clear to the students who aren't coming that they are going to miss something that will actually be relevant to the class and aren't getting off with nothing. In a way, this can be a good litmus test for whether what you're doing on that day is legit --- if students who already planned to skip have a decent chance of thinking "Oops, that might have been helpful, oh well", then the class is meaningful enough to compensate the students who do attend.

Answer 3

You should make it worthwhile for the student that have made an effort, so you could just do what you would have done that day, but insure the contents is covered by an exam question, so as to reward the good students.

Or you could take advantage of a smaller number of students, and do something like a review of how to answer exam questions from past years on topics you have already covered.

Answer 4

The fact is students have a life beyond school. They also each have their own set of circumstances, issues, whatever. You might have those who live thousands of miles away and must leave early to get a flight to see family they haven't seen in months, some may need to go home to work during breaks, others might not want to drive all night.

Cancel class, email your students tomorrow so that those who planned on staying can leave earlier if they want.

Answer 5

Hold the class just like any other day. If you offer some special content that day, you may end up disappointing those who show up or those who don't. And you can't just cancel class if the class is in the official schedule.

But you could agitate politically for the schedule to be changed institution-wide starting next year.

Answer 6

There is nothing wrong, in my opinion, with canceling class and being honest with your students. Just tell them the holiday slipped your mind when you were planning out the syllabus. You are human after all. Besides, you don't want to look like some sort of scrudge do you?

Answer 7

I would hold the class and make it available as a podcast if the class were after say 2PM. But that's actually being a bit generous. The holiday is after all a 4 day weekend. It isn't a 5 day weekend. If it were a workplace, they would be expected to report to work and I don't see university studies being held to a lower standard as being good preparation.

My concern stems from having seen too many grads from "name" university programs (health care field) - ill prepared for work and life and death responsibilities. They did not know enough to work safely nor survive their 90 day probationary periods. Staff who are seasoned instructors of such students are very concerned that recent grads increasingly show inadequate preparation and too lax attitudes to be safe in patient care. It was not just one or two individuals. Ones education at advanced level is preparation for life and work - it needs to reflect that reality.

Answer 8

My attendance policy is if you miss more than 20% of the class FOR ANY REASON, you fail. That ends up being 3 classes in a 15 week semester. Everyone gets the same three classes. If you miss that Wednesday and no more than one other class during the semester, no problem! If you have missed two other classes and then you miss that Wednesday, you fail the class. Everyone can plan accordingly. You should probably not teach new material but you've put the decision to make or miss that class squarely in your students' hands without unfairly rewarding or penalizing anyone for their travel plans.