Attendance is irrelevant to most of your points: 1) Some can learn the material without attending. If they don't learn it, their grade will reflect that. 2)

Attendance is irrelevant to most of your points: 1) Some can learn the material without attending. If they don't learn it, their grade will reflect that. 2) If one is present but doesn't participate, how does taking attendance help reflect that? (This is just a lazy prof/TA as they really should be noting participation, rather than attendance, if it's relevant to grading for a course) 3) If your assignment(s) don't get handed in, they don't get handed in and your grade will reflect that. 4) If you don't attend and show up on the right day for tests etc, your grade will reflect that. 5) If you're not there for a pop quiz, your grade will reflect that. Taking attendance is a weak mechanism at best to address any of these issues. One of the things that college should be doing is preparing people for the real world where they won't have paid babysitters. Classes are proxies for meetings etc. where you may, or may not, show up but are responsible for the content covered either way. Taking attendance just reinforces the view that the students are still children.