From experience, my school had a very loose attendance policy (and the front desk lady at my high school would change my attendance to "present" without a question), and this greatly unmotivated me and many others from being in class. Most students cannot be trusted to regularly attend class if it is not mandatory. Regularly attending class is crucial to succeeding in school, this has been supported by much research (1). Missing a few days here and there can be made up (and most schools allow for a good amount of skip days), but in excess it prevents the student from understanding the material. Poor school attendance has also been linked to a higher rate of criminal behavior. It's true that some students have personal lives that interfere with their ability to attend school regularly, such as working, or unreliable transportation. However, the solution to this problem should not be to make attendance voluntary, which neglects that child's need to go to school *and* negatively affects the rest of the students, but to find ways to ensure that those students can make it to school. (Certain truancy laws definitely need to be reconsidered and made more flexible, though.) 1. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2009/attendancedata/chapter1a.asp

**TL;DR: Compulsory attendance should reflect the individual's personal circumstances.** As sofiawells mentioned previously, making classroom attendance non-compulsory would demotivate students to attend school, in my opinion. I think that classroom attendance is part of a routine, and encourages socialization with other pupils, and creates a relationship between teachers and students. These are all skills that are useful in the world of employability and in general, encourages and develops interpersonal communication skills. However, I think in some cases, classroom attendance should be made non-compulsory for students with special circumstances, such as chronic illnesses, where they may feel embarrassed or ashamed for their low attendance, or mental health reasons such as anxiety, where classroom conditions increase stress levels.

The entire education system needs a shake up. A completely outdated system not tailored to modern society. Teachers with power complexes and no altruistic tendencies. The strict nature of school is of course necessary to some standard to reinforce key values, however, I remember my school days as a continuous bombardment of petty punishments for things that had no effect on my behaviour or education. The overall result of this lead to me hating school. I remember my most effective sessions being independent revision. Classroom attendance isn’t necessary. Most teacher lead lessons are regurgitating text book paragraphs or PowerPoint slides. A student is able to read this independently. Any questions can be asked to the teacher when needed. The main goal of the current education system is clearly to achieve qualifications rather than teach genuine skills or education needed for life ahead of these children. So why not allow students, if they work better in this style, as I did, to read these textbooks independently free from distraction, in the revision style of the student rather than a generic style used for the classroom and use the main role of the teacher to guide students in how to answer exam questions? Surely, if we keep the same goal of the current system this would be the most effective. (If students are clearly not performing the their best abilities outside of the classroom, of course it should be then made compulsory until they are able to work as they prefer to a good enough level)