I concur with irishgirl. These guys are probably a whole lot smarter than you’re giving them credit for. Either that or they are just lazy and they’ll eventually get the boot.
In most of my classes, the PROFESSORS were usually the ones who came late! 
(not late-just that they were usually the last to arrive-at least that’s how it was at La Roche, since all classes began and ended at the same time).
By the way, in my experience lectures and seminars exist for the sole purpose of clarifying, in your mind, the reading you should have done independently before class. If you do the reading at home and plan your essays well you should still attain decent averages without having to turn up to a lot of boring classes. It may seem flip but my scholastic experience thus far tells me that the key to academic success is a large vocabulary. Many people have a hard time seeing beyond that and it won’t take long for you to realise whether your lecturers are analytically minded enough to go through the trouble of tearing your essays to shreds to make sure you’re not trying to bullshit them or whether they’ll just give your papers a cursory examination and assume you know what you’re talking about.
First of all, like a lot of the other posters in this thread, I don’t think you should worry about what the other students are doing in the class when it doesn’t directly affect you. If these students are getting special treatment or there is a double standard, then you may have a point. But, the tardiness issue would be the only evidence of that, and then only if you were actually penalized for tardiness instead of just being threatened (maybe these guys were also threatened).
There are many explanations for these six student’s actions. They may be just lazy. They may be the types of learners who don’t have to follow every class and take notes. They may simply be happy with a ‘C’. They may already familiar with the course topics, maybe even repeating it. But no matter what their deal is, until it starts to affect you it isn’t your business.
From what I can see of this situation, if you are going to compare yourself to a charecter from the Simpsons, it may as well be Martin Prince instead of Frank Grimes.
Gomez–I’m definately feeling that way about my p-chem class this semester. The lectures are painful, plus it’s my first class of the day and I’m always tempted by more sleep. I felt lost when I first started missing class, but then when I devoted some serious time to the book, I felt that it was more clear than lecture. In lecture, he always skips steps in the math, but when I sit down with the book, I can go through each step on my own time. I also have an excellent TA.
Speaking of p-chem, I’d better finish that problem set (damn addictive SDMB).
During one Summer session at my ol’ community college, a handful of students were obviously cheating on the weekly exams, showing up late, and leaving early. Yet, the teacher said nothing to them as far as the rest of us could tell. Amazingly, said handful were shocked to get their collective F at the end of the term. Apparently, the teacher decided to treat them as adults although they weren’t acting as such. I’d say the teacher made the right choice. The rest of us remained concerned with our own performance.
I was one of the guys in the OP. Never took notes, never participated, regularly cut class, frequently late, and when I did show up, I was almost always stoned and would sit in the back reading bad sci-fi novels. Despite this, I never flunked a class*, maintained a B average throughout my college career, and eventually got my BA after six years (it took so long due to unrelated personal issues I’m not really interested in getting into right now)
Bottom line: not everyone learns the same way. I’m almost incapable of learning from a lecture. I can’t focus that way, and the knowledge just doesn’t stick with me. I have a lot of difficulty participating in class discussions because I’m slow. Not stupid by any means, but I’m not quick on my feet with the intellectual arguments. I was always coming up with briliant rebuttals ten minutes after the discussion had moved on to another topic. But I made sure that I always did my reading and turned in my work on time. Since I was able to prove that I had learned the material, most of my profs overlooked my deplorable attendance.
[sub]*Well… not entirely true. I flunked Statistics my first semester because I completly spaced the fact that I had a mid-term, and showed up to class without my notes. Couldn’t answer a single question. Wholly my fault, and I deserved the F. However, that was before I gave up trying when it came to attendence and paying attention. I also got F’s on no fewer than three other report cards, but in my defense, they were all in classes for which I had never signed up. Fucking admin idiots. Each time, it took forever to get the grade removed from my transcript.[/sub]
If the prof yelled at you, odds are it’s because you’re worth a damn.
I teach freshman writing, and I have some of the OP clowns. I don’t let them distract the class. They don’t do the reading, they don’t go through the draft process…
I ain’t their mother. If they can wing it and hand in a good essay, fine. They may learn a life lesson later on, whatever. If they wing it and hand in a D essay (and I grade tough), too bad, so sad.
The only students I really express sincere displease to are the ones that have a chance of someday having a thought, and will benefit from a kick in the pants.
Is there something new in the registration agreement that says “You are allowed to rant in the pit, but nobody can disagree with you”? You’re allowed to rant/vent/let off steam. And we’re allowed to take issue with something you write. You’ll notice that little “reply” button? It’s not just cosmetic. We can press it and it lets us reply.
And what is this “box” comment?
Lastly, I’m another one of those in the OP. I rarely take notes, I skip class decently often, I don’t study a whole lot, and I usually write papers the night before they’re due, if not later. Some people work differently from you.
Ryan, chill. Seriously. If they’re acting like this, they’re either failing as a result, or they don’t need to take class seriously to do well. Either way, they get what they’ve earned.
These kind of things can be deceiving. I took a statistics class last semester, and I almost never showed. I only went to tests and quizzes, and I dropped off the assignments in the prof’s office. I did just fine in the class; I’d taken a similar course in high school, and didn’t need to attend to know the material covered in the class.
This was my sentiment exactly. Many teachers just won’t bother with people who aren’t interested in learning. College professors are also put into the position of losing $$ for the college if they flunk students. Sad, but true. So take it as a compliment!
what <b>Furt</b> and <d_redguy</b> said.
I’m not clear if you’re at school or uni. I’d be surprised if either would expell you for being late.
But as to your situation - there is an upside. A committed student will get all the help and understanding they need, if the ask. Students like the ones you were complaining about will not. If they miss class without good reason or turn up in body but not mind, they will not get one to one tuition when they decide they need to catch up.
`Maybe you’re not used to college yet. Are you from Manchester originally? I think I saw you mention you were from Somerset, but I could be wrong about that.
Anyway, enjoy college yourself. don’t let anyone else bother you, and you’ll be fine.
I’ll chime in with others that say they’re being harder on you because you’re worth the trouble. If these guys are the losers you say they are, they’ll either coast through on their charm (which may suck, but it also speaks volumes about how shallow their lives are), or they’ll fail eventually and they’ll be gone. You, however, are a good worker, study, and show up on time, so they’re going to keep on you to make sure you succeed - and not become like these other guys.
Just my humble opinion.
Esprix
Oh for the love of…
Looks like yesterday was one of those days I should have just stayed home and watched the Price is Right, eh? 
I’m not from Somerset, I’m from Stretford , Stretford is a town in Manchester.
Today we only had a fourty five minute lesson because only 6 people bothered to turn up.
While I agree that walking in late to a class is rude and disruptive, I’m also in the “attendence is not important” camp. Unless attendence is part of the grade, I’m usually the girl you only see on test day*. I’ve got a short attention span and when I do go to class, tend to find myself daydreaming about 20 minutes into the lecture. Time that could be better spent reading the book, since that’s how I learn best anyway. I’ve got a high GPA and generally do well in all of my classes. Different strokes…
*Of course, that’s for classes outside of my major. Being a Speech major, attendence is kinda mandatory (they’re considered “performance classes”). Next semester (my last one, yay!) is going to consist of 3 two-hour Speech classes back to back. Gonna be hell…
Why would they remove a grade from your transcript? You say you didn’t sign up for these classes, but how did you end up getting a grade from them at all? Was it an error of communication, where you didn’t know you were registered and got default Fs for non-attendance?
And just MHO: I don’t see how it can hurt to attend in body even if in not mind. They like to see your smiling little face and your pen moving steadily across the paper: it proves that you respect them enough to show up. Whether you consider them worthy of respect or not, you have to appear to show it.