Education should not be a straitjacket

Editor - If a student cannot be present, shouldn't he or she call in and apologise, preferably in advance, giving a reason and making arrangements for someone else to present the case, project, or whatever?¹ In other words, do what we all do when unable to see a patient or attend a meeting. Proper behaviour prescribes what should be done.

If it is a question of missing lectures or some learning opportunity, then the main person who misses out is the student, and individual students may not feel so guilty about this, depending on their particular learning styles. Universities often seem to think they have a monopoly on knowledge. The real situation is that knowledge is bigger than any of us, and its beauty is that it is out there waiting for us to dip into it in whatever way suits us as individuals. Education is supposed to set you free, not straitjacket you.

I was surprised when I started my course in physiology 40 years ago to hear the professor tell us that there was absolutely no obligation to attend any lecture given in the department. I was straight out of school and wondered what sort of a place I had come to. But he went on to say that if we were borderline in the examination results then the examiners would look through the attendance sheets (we had to sign in) and if we had not attended many presentations it would go badly for us.

Universities should provide a framework within which learning can take place. They should also give frequent and meaningful feedback to students. Universities think that what they promulgate is the only way in which students can learn. Surely we have matured from that way of thinking.

1. Medical schools: the makings of a liar. studentBMJ 2005;13:175. (April.)