THE HOLIDAY season is fast approaching. This week it's Thanksgiving, next month it's Winter Break, and in a few more months comes Spring Break. The University so graciously gives us time off from classes in order to catch up on work, relax, spend quality time with our family and friends or even travel.
Don't abuse the system. The University sets a certain amount of days aside for us to relax and not worry about going to classes. People should not take it upon themselves to make their vacations longer and skip an extra day or two of classes leading up to the break.
It's an age-old phenomenon. The University gives us Wednesday through Sunday off; we might as well make a week of it and skip Monday and Tuesday as well. Or, at the very least, just Tuesday. It's an inconsiderate abuse of the system. Professors are staying those extra two days and classes are still continuing, as are many other university activities. No one student is so much better than his or her peers to warrant deserving an extra two days off from classes that the University still has scheduled. Go to your classes; it won't kill you to learn something once in a while.
Granted, the option to skip seems quite tempting, what with a full weekend, only two days of classes and then five more days off. The two little class days seem almost useless, a waste of a perfectly good extended vacation. Not so. With exams just around the corner, these extra two class days help us further our knowledge of exam topics. When we return from break there will just be one week of class left before we jump right into exam week. We must take advantage of any extra aid our professors are willing to give us.
Students may skip classes for a variety of reasons, ranging from pure laziness to a pre-planned family vacation. The lazy crowd has no excuse. The vacationing crowd probably decided that a five-day break was not long enough to get all the fun in. Adding in an extra few days sounds great; miss out on some quality education just to have that extra day in Disneyland or those few extra runs on the ski slopes of Colorado. But winter break is just around the corner! We have a full month off from classes then without any schoolwork or finals to worry about. The full-blown vacationing should be able to wait another two and a half weeks until exams are over and teachers aren't making the effort to show up and teach a half-full class. Hold off on making big vacation plans until you don't have to sacrifice class time for leisure time.
Before jumping onto the class-skipping bandwagon, we all need to take a step back and re-evaluate why it is that we came to the University in the first place. It certainly was not to gain experience in skipping classes. Nor was it to work the system and get the longest holiday breaks possible. We came to this University because it provides us with a high quality education.
We came here to continue our studies after high school and to work toward knowledge and experience that will help us in our future endeavors. In the real world, you can't just skip two extra days of work because you feel like it. More than likely, you would be fired. You would at least have to give advance notice and maybe even arrange for someone to work in your place those days. In the real world you can't skip a meeting that your superior has prepared for everyone to attend just because you are too lazy and vacation is just around the corner.
Just as we will encounter those scenarios in the future, we have similar issues plaguing the University now. We can't "fire" students for not attending classes, but teachers can enforce strict attendance policies that will hold students accountable for unexcused absences, especially at the time near breaks. We also need to regard classes much like we would a business meeting. Professors spend time preparing for lectures and putting effort into making class time a worthwhile and educational experience. If we simply don't show up because we have "better things to do," we show a lack of recognition for the effort our professors put in to prepare for class. Skipping class also shows a lack of respect not only toward our professors, but also toward our classmates who did come to learn and have been placed in a situation where not everybody is taking their education seriously.
Some professors realize that there is a risk the majority of their class will not show up to lectures right before break. These professors take it upon themselves to cancel class. This is a professor's prerogative. We, as students, do not have this choice open to us. Sure, we pay tuition and can do what we want with our experience here. But the tuition goes toward furthering our education, not lengthening our vacations. If class is scheduled, even if it is at 7 p.m. on the day before break begins, we should go. There is no picking and choosing; if a class is scheduled, you go. We are here to learn, not to slack off when we so desire.
(Alex Roosenburg's column appears Mondays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at aroosenburg@cavalierdaily.com.)
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