In attending college, especially one like Cal State Long Beach, I have noticed that you can choose the same class but with many options. You can have the same class with a different professor, a different time in the day or even most any day of the week.
For some odd reason though, students love choosing the early 8 o’clock class schedule. I constantly wonder why students would put themselves in such a hassle of waking up early, driving through the hellish traffic and fighting that urge to sleep when they could take later classes. Could the reason be the parking?
This is a college campus where students can take full advantage of a schedule that suits them, not high school where school must start at 8 o’clock. But so many students just choose an early class without giving it much thought. Many of us are used to the whole high school system of starting school at 8 o’clock that we forgot that we can choose a class at almost any time we want. Many should take advantage of this system.
Because I have a couple days of 8 o’clock classes myself, I can probably guess a few reasons for students’ choice in taking early classes. The reward for fighting traffic in the morning is having that good spot, either by the tennis courts in Lot 11, that good spot near the Business Administration Building in Lot 17 or having that first level in one of the parking structures. It goes as far as putting me in a good mood when I leave my car thinking, “Class today may suck, but at least the walk back to my car will be short.”
Another reason could be that taking an 8 o’clock class means that your chances of finishing classes and having free time sooner in the day increase. That may be necessary for those students who work. The morning is for school, while the afternoon or night is for work. It is a balance that pretty much requires an early class and I must admit that finishing up a school day by lunch with free time to spare is pretty nice.
And yet, another reason for the 8 o’clock class is that once in a while, believe it or not, there are not too many options open. A class you want may be full and you are stuck with the 8 o’clock class. Or the class you want may only have that time slot open for that particular day, such as Biology 200, which only carries that 8:00 a.m. to 8:50 a.m. option on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Another reason could be that it fits in your schedule perfectly. You may desperately need a class and the only option open is that 8 o’clock class.
So there are many reasons for the 8 o’clock class, but what is so good about it? You have to wake up early, usually around 6:30 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. if you commute, sometimes even earlier to beat the traffic. That is another thing – traffic. All I can say is that traffic really sucks and can ruin a morning, especially if it is one of those little accidents, like when a car has a flat tire on the side of the road and everyone on the freeway is stopping to look around, creating bumper to bumper traffic.
And then you come to school zombie-like where information usually goes in one ear and out the other. There is no benefit coming to class sleepy because it is harder to retain information. If you are in school to learn, take a later class where your mind is not tired, but is fresh to go. CSULB offers many different types of schedules that many students do not take advantage of. You can probably get through the class with a solid B if you take good sleepy notes. If you do not care so much about actually learning in the class, but rather just completing it in a way that benefits your schedule, then by all means take that 8 o’clock class. At least you can point and laugh at the students who are coming to class around lunch just as you are leaving.
Daniel Macri is a junior film major.
