<p>Well Professors have two functions - teaching and research. Many give preference to the latter over the former. So while, yes, it would be great to have inspirational professors in every course, I can definitely understand why that isn’t possible. </p>
<p>Plus, there are courses you have to take but just don’t want to. I doubt there are many people, even brilliant top PhD type students who like to learn about everything. If you can do well in such a course without going to lecture, then good for you. </p>
<p>If you count only lower level courses and basic upper div courses, I easily skipped 1/3rd to 3/5th of all the lectures. I just didn’t find the material interesting and I wasn’t learning much from being in class. That being said, I didn’t go back and ask any of these people for recommendations for grad school, but if you have an interest in the professor’s work and not the course itself, there’s no reason you can’t get a good rec from them if you go in to office hours. If someone has made it to the position of professor, they should know that following rigid schedules has nothing to do with being a creative and intelligent student, and they shouldn’t dwell on the fact that you are skipping their lecture.</p>