As high school students, we had to wake up early in the morning to go to school and take classes. Now, being a university student, I wanted to manage my class schedule and take classes that weren’t super early in the morning. However, I’ve noticed during my time here that the university offers some very early classes, and I have to say that I think they come with some fairly negative effects.

Every university has morning classes, so I am not arguing that we should not have them at the U. However, I do think we can all cooperate to delay the time of morning classes. The earliest classes offered here start at 8:30 a.m. To arrive to class without being late, most of us should at least wake up at 7:30 a.m. Many people could argue that 7:30 a.m. is not that early. Nevertheless, it can be early for some people. For example, I take five classes and four of them are my major courses. Taking five lectures a semester is not that big of a deal, I know, but with four major courses, there are a lot of things to take care of. There are many papers and reports to write every week, several projects to work on, exams and quizzes that need to be studied for and so on. Every task has a specific deadline, which forces me to stay up past midnight finishing my homework and getting caught up on projects for the week. I practically collapse every night when I’m finished.

Even though I feel tired like crazy and do not want to wake up when my alarm goes off, I know I must attend my morning classes to maintain my grades and for the knowledge that I will gain. Whenever I enter the lecture room I’m never fully awake, and I still need some time before I can concentrate on the lecture and the professor. Meanwhile, I just sit in my seat unable to understand important elements from the lecture. Due to this, I’d say morning classes are not actually beneficial for students, assuming most of us are experiencing the same problems. I suppose delaying the starting time for morning classes would raise the efficiency of the class and make it worthwhile for everyone.

Thanks to my heavy workload, it is always a challenge to wake up time to have breakfast, take a shower and get dressed before making it to class on time. Many students struggle in the mornings just like me. After waking up feeling exhausted, it’s difficult to make it to class on time. Many students come to class a few minutes late or arrive more than 20 to 30 minutes late. Some of the professors feel disrespected by their tardiness, and coming in late to class can disturb the students who came in on time. Also, giving credits to students who came late does not seem right from the view of the students who came on time.

Although there are students who come to class late, there are also students who just skip class and do not show up for days. This becomes serious because skipping class can become a habit. Missing class once can be made up, but if the number of missing classes grows, the student will struggle to catch up and grades will drop. This is most common in early morning classes that host other students with workloads similar to mine. If we were to push class times back an hour or two each day, I think attendance would increase, and students and professors would benefit more from their time on campus.