You wake up from your slumber, look up at the ceiling, and think to yourself. The time has come for you to make that hard decision and choose one of the two options. The saying shouldn’t be “to be or not to be,” but instead, “to go or not to go.” That’s the big question. That’s what everyone contemplates whenever they hear that loud alarm go off and see the sunlight peeking in through the window. This question that we all ask is, “should I go to class or should I just skip?”
Now, I know that skipping class is a really bad thing to do. No one should be skipping class because you’ll definitely miss a lot. Believe me, I am not an advocate for missing class. Also, most teachers have strict attendance guidelines, such as if you’re late or absent without prior notice, your grade will drop or you’ll be sent a stern email from your professor. The bottom line is, don’t skip class all the time, but once in a semester shouldn’t be too bad, right?
No, it is, but that’s why we need to convince ourselves that it’s not. I know all too well those stages we go through to convince ourselves to skip. I will explain them below, and see if you relate to any of them.
- “I don’t feel up for class today”
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I know this is the first thought we have after waking up from a great sleep by an annoying alarm. Whenever I have early classes, I always just stare forward and think to myself that maybe today is that day to skip class and finish some work (aka sleep a little more). Sometimes we just have this weird feeling where we don’t have the motivation or energy to go to class. I’m not saying to always let that feeling deter you from going to class, but once in a while that feeling just takes over our bodies and we just can’t bring ourselves to attend. Plus, people go through things and it’s difficult for them to muster up the strength to attend a fifty minute, an hour, and/or a three hour class.
- “I just have so much to do/going on right now”
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These are definitely the next thoughts that I have. Once I get that feeling, I need to start coming up with reasons as to why I have a valid excuse to miss class. My default is always that I have so much work and I need more time to finish it. Class gets in the way of that work time, and I can’t stay up until 1 am doing it, right? It’ll be bad for my health and sleep schedule. Also, as stated before, sometimes we just have so much going on in our lives that attending class just isn’t an option at that time. For instance, I had an important meeting that would run into my class time, so I wasn’t able to attend class. These circumstances can range from a list of reasons, so if it’s important enough and a good last minute “excuse,” you’ll definitely convince yourself well.
- “Everyone else does it”
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I know we shouldn’t compare ourselves to others, but this is something I always do. In terms of another reason to convince myself, this is the second one I always fall to. There is always that one person that every once in a while, you don’t see them in class. Yes, you never know their circumstances, but you know that others still skip. I used to look at TikTok videos of people who justified their skipping of class because I needed to feel validated in making the decision to skip. I also needed to talk to my fellow classmates and friends to hear their thoughts and opinions. Once I got this information, I knew that skipping class was nothing new. We all need to do it at some point, whether it was planned in advance or planned hours before the class starts. If I’m not the oddball out then it should be fine to do it just once, right?
- “It’ll only be this one time”
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My next reason is what definitely seals the deal. If I can tell myself that this will only happen one time during the semester, and that this day was that day that I would cash in my skip class card, then I’d be fine with it. I have to promise to myself that this will not become an every month thing and will never happen again. I then have to look at the calendar and make sure it’s not too early in the semester to do this because that’s a major factor. I would say middle October to November is the prime time to skip just one class. We’re already seasoned in our classes, and it’s about the time we all have work piling up and other commitments to fulfill. That’s when professors will become more lenient and understanding, in my opinion. If it’s just this one time in the prime of the semester, then it should be ok. That’s how I convince myself and finally make the difficult decision to skip class.
- “I’m just going to do it”
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The last stage is to just completely convince yourself to do it. You open your laptop or phone and begin the email to your professor. Then you go on about your day. It’s that easy, yet I make it so complicated. There’s a 50% chance your professor will have a problem with it, especially if they’re strict, but most of them are understanding. If they’re not, then you need to make the second decision of whether or not to still go and show up late or just take whatever consequence is given. Just think about your standing in class and make a choice based on that. Do you feel confident you’ll be able to catch up and understand what you missed? Is there someone you can talk to about what you missed? Are you going to experience an unpleasant consequence for this action? Just think about these secondary questions when convincing yourself.
Now you have finally done it and have convinced yourself that skipping this class is the right decision. It may feel weird, unforgiving, and wrong, but if you feel deep down that this is the right thing to do and you’ll be fine with making up the work, then just do it (but only once). Try to do something worthwhile when you skip, and don’t just procrastinate and do other things. Make this an advantageous experience, since you are paying for these classes.