While I can see where you're coming from, a few other factors need to be taken into consideration.
One of MIT's greatest strengths (and arguably weaknesses) is the sheer "atmosphere" of working on your classes. The line between directly school-related stuff and other stuff is very blurred. While of course it's true that homework and tests impact the lives of students at any and every school, I think it's fair to say MIT takes it to another level. And not just with direct things like giving lots of homework and tests - I often felt like it was easier to find an Athena cluster (what MIT computer labs are called) than a drinking fountain or a snack machine. Because of this atmosphere, the emphasis on necessarily attending lecture is lessened, as there is more of a "continuous" feel to each class, which might include going to lecture, recitation (which is often much more valuable than lecture but doesn't get included in the "50 percent" quote from the article), study groups, office hours, and more. Now, does this devolve into problem set copying for some students? Definitely. But overall the atmosphere was definitely there. Because of this, it's misleading to focus on a number like "50% of students aren't coming to class", as attending lecture is just one part of the equation.
I should add as a disclaimer that I never took a TEAL class at MIT, or even a physics class (something I regret). So, while I have perspective on the school as a whole, my perspective is still that of an outsider when it comes to the physics department.
As a side note, personally, I kind of hated the atmosphere because people often adopted a "woe is me" attitude as semesters went on. You'd be amazed how hard it is to get an MIT student to commit to spending an hour or two attending a potentially worthwhile event, in spite of the fact that they'll easily burn that much time complaining about their workload in just about any given week. At the same time, I liked the overall philosophy which really seemed to encourage pushing yourself to the limit. The Institute allows things a lot of other schools don't, such as for a student to take 6 or more classes in a term without special petition or paying extra, as well as for students to take classes that conflict (it's pretty hard to fit 7 or 8 classes into a schedule otherwise)....
One of MIT's greatest strengths (and arguably weaknesses) is the sheer "atmosphere" of working on your classes. The line between directly school-related stuff and other stuff is very blurred. While of course it's true that homework and tests impact the lives of students at any and every school, I think it's fair to say MIT takes it to another level. And not just with direct things like giving lots of homework and tests - I often felt like it was easier to find an Athena cluster (what MIT computer labs are called) than a drinking fountain or a snack machine. Because of this atmosphere, the emphasis on necessarily attending lecture is lessened, as there is more of a "continuous" feel to each class, which might include going to lecture, recitation (which is often much more valuable than lecture but doesn't get included in the "50 percent" quote from the article), study groups, office hours, and more. Now, does this devolve into problem set copying for some students? Definitely. But overall the atmosphere was definitely there. Because of this, it's misleading to focus on a number like "50% of students aren't coming to class", as attending lecture is just one part of the equation.
I should add as a disclaimer that I never took a TEAL class at MIT, or even a physics class (something I regret). So, while I have perspective on the school as a whole, my perspective is still that of an outsider when it comes to the physics department.
As a side note, personally, I kind of hated the atmosphere because people often adopted a "woe is me" attitude as semesters went on. You'd be amazed how hard it is to get an MIT student to commit to spending an hour or two attending a potentially worthwhile event, in spite of the fact that they'll easily burn that much time complaining about their workload in just about any given week. At the same time, I liked the overall philosophy which really seemed to encourage pushing yourself to the limit. The Institute allows things a lot of other schools don't, such as for a student to take 6 or more classes in a term without special petition or paying extra, as well as for students to take classes that conflict (it's pretty hard to fit 7 or 8 classes into a schedule otherwise)....