November 23, 2014

These musicians undoubtedly changed the face of music in the world. The music that they have provided has had considerable influence on prospective musicians. In spite of facing issues and being part of frequent disbanding groups, they have managed to keep their heads high and perform exceptional music.

1. Sting

From “Giant steps are what you take, walking on the moon. Hoping that my leg don’t break walking on the moon” to “I’m not asking for the moon, is it really so implausible”, Sting has made a significant mark in the music industry. Arguably one of the most talented musicians in the planet, Sting rose to fame with the world renowned band named The Police who produced hits like ‘Walking on the Moon’, ‘Message in a Bottle’ and ‘Every Breath You Take’. After re-joining and leaving his band again in 2012, Sting managed to produce a highly critically acclaimed album which features songs like ‘A Practical Arrangement’.

2. Ronan Keating

After Boyzone, one of the most well-known boy bands in the world, disbanded, Ronan Keating took time out and five years later he started his solo career later 1999. He slowly rose to fame with hits after hits, especially ‘When You Say Nothing at All’. He has sold over 20 million CDs worldwide. His latest album, ‘Fires’, reached number five in the UK charts and sold over 30,000 copies. Lyrically and harmoniously, he has a unique talent. The title track of ‘Fires’ has over 5 million views on YouTube.

3. Rob Thomas

The current lead singer of Matchbox 20, Rob Thomas gained worldwide fame with exceptional hits on his solo music project. He recently joined Matchbox 20 after the band had disbanded years back. When he left his band, he started getting into pop-rock music and released hits like “Lonely No More”, which brought him to fame as a solo musician and “Smooth”, for which he collaborated with guitar legend Santana and won three Grammy awards for the same. Although his last album was released back in 2009, he still does regular shows.

4. Robbie Williams

Robbie Williams is currently a member of the pop group Take That which disbanded earlier yet reformed in 2009 and is still functional till date. While he had left Take That, he started working on his solo project. His first seven albums reached number 1 in the UK charts. Songs like ‘Bodies’, ‘Morning Sun’, ‘Candy’ and ‘Feel’ are still popular hits around the world. His latest album was launched in 2013, for which he collaborated with Olly Murs, Lilly Allen and many more artists.

5. Sir Paul McCartney

Sir Paul McCartney is probably one of the most respectable and successful musicians in the music industry. He was an ex-member of the most classic acts, The Beatles and after the band broke up, he worked on his solo career which earned him the recognition of one of the most successful composers of all times. He has sold over 100 million copies of his solo albums till date. Over 42 songs from the Billboard top 100 are compositions and collaborations of Paul McCartney. Last year, he played his farewell show at the stadium where The Beatles ended their legacy as well. He announced his retirement from music after that.

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‘Does attendance matter?’
‘Do we have marks for attendance?’
‘What’s the minimum attendance for which I will be allowed to give the exams?’

The record in our teacher’s attendance register about the number of classes we managed to grace our physical presence in the class rooms drive the subject of this article. Is attendance necessary or not?

Well, no matter how much the students hate this concept and crib about its very existence in the first place, attendance in fact is important. Yes, it is important to attend the lectures in college for a better understanding of what the textbooks and guides cannot provide. It is important to indulge in classroom discourses to formulate ideas and it is important to be there and learn the things for which we will be awarded an undergraduate degree in the future.

All of it being of utmost importance in relation with being present in the classrooms, we come to the next part of the question – is it necessary?

Is it a necessity to be present in a class when we really don’t want to study, already know or do not consider very important a particular topic? Is it necessary to mark our physical presence for an hour for the sake of the record register when we won’t be paying attention to what is being taught in the class?
The difference between important and necessary can be absolutely subjective. If I, being a student, believe that an internship and work experience will be more beneficial for me than the attendance, my personal perspective of the two terms might completely differ from a student who thinks that attending every class will contribute to better academic understanding which will further be beneficial for his/her academic goals.

Being in college, I perceive, the students are capable enough to know their priorities. If these students are allowed to make choices of choosing their careers and are seen capable of making the right choice, the fact that they are not given liberty to not attend classes which they think are not of importance is a self-contradictory concept in itself. In addition to that, making a certain percentage of attendance a necessity still makes sense to some extent when the college authorities do have to maintain if students are actually attending classes or not but the practice of awarding additional marks for more attendance in some colleges doesn’t make sense.

Completely getting rid of the concept of attendance is perhaps not the solution either. Removing necessity of attendance will also give liberty to that part of the crowd which is ignorant of the fact that classrooms exist. But again coming to my previous point, if a student is not willing to attend classes, even if attendance is made compulsory, they won’t suddenly start attending all classes. Certainly not with the availability of fake medical certificates. What’s good in promoting such forgery?

It is as simple as this – if someone wants to attend classes, they will. And if someone doesn’t, they will not and find ways to compensate for attendance. Making attendance a necessity will only make a slight difference which will be that the student will start attending lectures right before the exams to compensate for the low attendance. Does this serve any good to the student or contribute in any sense to his academic ability? No, because we all know how much we feel like studying when we reluctantly come to attend classes in the conclusive days of the semester. He/she will be either sleeping in the last row or scribbling designs in the last page of his/her notebook.

As an alternate solution, the minimum threshold of attendance should be reduced to a limit where students don’t feel forced to attend classes. And then again, if they don’t, it should be their choice.

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