Okay, so I know that is normal. A lot of guys are but in this case, it is insanely bad. Given today's example: I spent the night at his house and the next day he leaves to go to school. I look him in the eye and say "i'll talk with you after your classes are done" he says "i love you babe, i'll talk with you this afternoon" It's now after 6 and he has made no effort to contact me. It's like no matter how much I emphasize how important it is for him to contact me, it never sinks in. I feel like I could go a couple days before he'd even call up and say hello. Is this normal? we've been together for two years but it seems like when he's given a date or time to contact me, it just never happens.

If, however, a girl asks, "Will you ring me this evening?" then I know that I'm supposed to ring and also what time I should ring.
I know women think we're being obtuse but we're often not. You just have to spell it out plainly. That's what we understand. I once got into an argument with somebody because she said that she knew what she meant, and so I must have known. But I really didn't know.
In my opinion, I would think that if communication was that important than I would be the one to initiate but I'm just a carrot.
The irony here is that you are the one that lacks communication skills.
Perhaps you're more needy than him, and actually he's not responding to your 'emphasis on how important it is for him to contact you' because he doesn't feel the desire or need to? Maybe you require more attention or 'maintenance' than he does.
or you should just call him yourself, guys aren't like girls, if we don't know what to talk about or have anything to tell you, we're not going to just call, if you have the things to say, you should call him.
hello,
Hamid
Wat da hell lyke.
By the way, Does he have an Xbox?
------
But seriously, the way you stated it does make it seem like you'll be the one to call him.
If you wanted him to phone you, you should rather have said, "Please call me when your classes are over"