It's flu season.

This means running noses, sore throats, fevers, upset stomachs and many other symptoms.

It can also mean missed classes.

Unfortunately for students, missing class because of the flu can contribute to an already pounding headache.

Without a uniform attendance policy, how to deal with a missed class is left up to each professor's discretion. Sometimes these policies can be problematic for students.

In a class where attendance is required, it's not fair to force students to have documentation every time they are sick. When you have the flu, you don't need to go to the doctor to have them tell you to get lots of rest and drink lots of fluids. Even if they had the time or needed the diagnosis, students on tight budgets can't always afford to go to the doctor for minor aches and pains.

Sometimes professors are unreasonable in their demand for documentation for missed class. It's offensive to force people to bring in proof of a loved one's death just so they can justify a missed class. How much documentation is required to prove a student had a legitimate excuse to miss class?

Yet we're also having a hard time faulting professors for having a strict attendance policy. Students skip class regularly, and if all they had to do was claim to be sick to justify it, it would be a problem. It's unfortunate that the dishonesty of some students can make life difficult for those with a legitimate illness.

One solution would be to do away with mandatory attendance in lecture-style classes. Students are adults and are paying a significant amount of money for their education. Leave it up to them to decide if they need to miss class. Some already do this.

This would make it easy for professors to determine which student is really sick, and which is just trying to make up for skipping one too many classes. If a student makes it to class almost every day, and then misses one and asks for help making up for it because they were sick, it's pretty believable.

Obviously classes such as labs, where the work done in the classroom is a large part of the grade, are a different circumstance. But then again, if people consistently don't show up, their grade will reflect it.

Rather than requiring formal documentation for every sick day, Professors can use their own judgment based on the students' track record throughout the semester.