It’s Week 3. My friend and I are on our way to school and notice that the line of cars going into the parking lot is only four cars deep. Just two weeks ago, we had to wait for four green lights before finally turning into the parking lot. This difference in traffic means one thing: students are starting to skip morning classes.
College is a time of freedom. Sleeping in past alarms can be tempting, especially for long, boring lectures where attendance isn’t recorded. Lecture slides and sometimes even class recordings are posted online. With these resources available, you may ask: Why should I attend class?
Personally, attending class in-person enhances my learning experience. I get distracted when watching virtual lectures. Videos offer the option to speed up, so I find myself watching lectures at 1.5 speed just to get them over with. Nobody is around to keep me accountable for paying attention. Some in-person classes also have participation quizzes. Sure, you can just guess answers when your trusted friend says there’s a class poll, but you’re not actually learning. Being on campus is more motivating because I see other students focused. Sitting in front of a computer screen all day hurts my eyes. Homework is mostly online anyways, so for a change in environment, I attend class in-person.
As an introvert, I prefer keeping to myself. Attending discussions encourages me to come out of my comfort zone. I rarely talk to classmates doing lectures, but the smaller room and course structure of discussion classes makes it easier to have conversations. Talking in front of a class of 20 is far less terrifying than having to shout in a lecture of 200 in order to be heard.While I prefer attending class in-person, I appreciate professors uploading lectures to give students flexibility of how they want to attend class. Recorded lectures are also beneficial to review for exams. I also want to add a disclaimer: don’t feel like you need to attend every single lecture. Emergencies and illnesses happen from time to time. Taking mental health breaks is also more important than having to rush to an 8:00 am class. I just want to encourage you to attend class in-person if you can.
