I never skipped class in high school. Not because of any moral obligation I had to attend or to better myself, but because I wasn’t _good_ enough to get a full-ride athletic scholarship, and I knew I wasn’t handsome enough to get by on just my looks.
So I went to class every day. I wanted to get good grades so I could get into a good college and get a bunch of scholarships. That was the goal.
Well, now I am here, and I have realized something: skipping class is not a big deal. Parents will probably meet this idea with a lot of opposition. My mom, for example, is always hounding me to go to class. This is a conversation we had the other day:
“Did you go to class today?”
“No, I was really tired.”
“So you didn’t go to any of your classes? All day?”
“Yeah. I would’ve fallen asleep in all my classes today had I gone.”
“OK, well it’s your choice, I guess, but we are paying $274.00 per credit hour for you to go there. And that doesn’t even include the other costs associated with classes like the Recreation Facility Fee or the Information Technology Fee.”
See what I mean? Did you see how she tried to make me feel guilty and lawyer me like some sort of lawyer*? I didn’t know why she couldn’t understand that I was tired from partying the night before and didn’t want to go.
Other companies and businesses give sick days, so shouldn’t classes do the same? Sure they give you some leeway — all the classes I’ve taken allow five unexcused absences. But that’s only one work week’s worth of classes. That’s basically nothing because a semester lasts three and a half months. I wouldn’t even be able to schedule any cool vacations in that amount of time.
On top of that, a lot of the classes I am taking right now don’t even have to do with my major, so why should I go to them? To learn for the sake of learning? To take advantage of world-class instruction? To make the most of an opportunity that not everyone has? Please. I’ve got better things to do — like sleep.
Besides, a ton of the instruction is online now. Maybe back in the day of bell-bottoms and “Dark Side of the Moon,” the only way to get information was to actually attend class, but now, we have the Internet. Assignments are usually online along with notes from the lectures — unless the professor is a real piece of work and doesn’t post notes because he or she wants you to actually attend class and engage in the learning process. I am not a huge fan of that because I enjoy learning at my own pace, which is usually cramming the night before an exam. I really think I learn better that way.
Being a college student is a full-time job, and it is exhausting. You have to stay in shape, meet new people, go to football and basketball games, go to parties after football and basketball games…the list goes on and on.
Don’t waste your time doing something as useless as going to class. In 20 years, what are you going to remember? Newton’s three laws of motion, or the most epic beer pong comeback apartment 305 has ever seen?
Actually, you probably won’t remember either since you didn’t go to class for one and you were drunk for the other.
_*My mother is a lawyer._