Is Incentivizing Lectures A Good Idea?

Julia Forest

Copy Editor

I think it’s safe to say that we’ve all attended a lecture that we didn’t want to go to for extra credit, and maybe, possibly, a brownie on the way out. Extra credit can be used and seen as both a negative and positive incentive when it comes to students going to see a lecture.

Personally, I would much rather be in a packed room that’s full of disengaged students than to be in a room with only a few people. It’s embarrassing and awkward when only a small number of people show up. Plus, it’s not fair to the person presenting or to the people who organized the event. They need people to fill the seats and obviously, they need some type of audience to present to, or there would be no point. I would like to see more professors give extra credit for attending lectures because whoever is presenting needs the support.

With that being said, I wish extra credit wasn’t the only reason why students see lectures. They should attend out of interest and care, but unfortunately, not many students do. I think part of this is because there’s not a very large variety of lectures. Some departments have many lectures to attend, while other departments barely offer any. The lectures are limited in terms of attracting different majors and interests.

One negative about using extra credit as an incentive is that a lot of the students who do attend don’t appreciate the lecture. Before I go on, I know that some lectures may be boring, confusing, and drag on for way too long, but that doesn’t give an excuse to not act respectfully.

If you are going to a lecture, whether it’s for extra credit or not, please follow theater etiquette and at least act like you’re paying attention. Being on your phone the whole time is extremely rude and disrespectful, and honestly, I see too much of that behavior in classrooms as well. Not only is your disengagement not fair to the person presenting, but it’s not fair to you either. Get the most out of your education while you can, even if it means sitting through a boring lecture for a few extra points. You might be surprised what you can learn from them.

My favorite lectures are always the ones where people from Assumption are presenting because the people in the audience care and pay attention. It becomes more than extra credit when it’s someone you can name and recognize. Plus, it’s so much easier to connect to the speaker, especially if you know them. The conversations afterwards are always so meaningful and it’s exciting to see someone from our own community share their interests. But surprisingly, these lectures are usually the worst attended and they shouldn’t be. If professors are going to give extra credit, it should be used to support the faculty.

All in all, I encourage the use of extra credit to support lectures. It might not be the right reason to attend, but at least it creates an audience.