WHY I PERSEVERE. It's not a well-written column, but when a student posts a gripe about absentee professors, it bears circulation.

I paid my tuition to hear you lecture and pontificate to me for only 42 hours. Not holding class regularly is not acceptable. Yes, us students may sometimes be absent, but we are not the ones getting paid. Do students get a check for every class a professor skips? They should, because I need a refund.

You are not in a room of substitute professors. Granted, most of us students are pretty smart, but we do not have the full education or professional experiences that qualify us to be a college professor. I did not pay to hear John Doe talk.

If you assign a reading assignment, then you should not spend the next day with a PowerPoint of that chapter. Guide us in a group activity that builds the skill of that chapter, or tell us what it means. When you lack a thoughtful presentation of the material, I find no reason to waste my time and prepare.