“Arriving to class late is disruptive of the learning process. I think that it is disrespectful to both the instructor and the students. I generally find a problem with students being tardy to my 9:10 a.m. class, in which students would come in thirty minutes late to this fifty minute class. I started locking my door at 9:15 second semester.”~Patricia McCormick
I am one of millions of college students who nearly habitually arrive late for class. Now, this is not something I am proud of – it is just a fact.
The first few semesters I entered college it became obvious that I had a big problem waking up and getting to college for my 8am class. I put it down to the fact that classes were just too darn early. Somehow, I managed to get to enough classes not to be marked as late and more miraculously (I have very low expectations of myself) managed to not sleep my way past my first classes of the day altogether and end up being barred for exams.
This semester however, where almost all my first classes begun at 10am – it became obvious it was not so much the hour of the class as it was me not wanting to wake up for class at all.
Fortunately, I entered the course which was filled with at least a dozen others who seemed to think nothing of walking in even later than I or not coming to class at all. I am not entirely sure how they manage to sweet talk the lecturers into sitting for their finals but I am eternally grateful for them because they make me look a whole lot less bad.
Typical right?
I feel bad every time I walk into class late, honest! But sleep is so good it seems to over ride the common sense in my head (Yes I have common sense)! Now, don’t go thinking because I am fat means that I am lazy. No no no… it runs in the family. Heh.
The only way I ever managed to get to school in my younger days was to set this HUGE old fashioned alarm clock that would ring loud enough to wake the dead. It used to drive my mom mad but after a couple of years she learned to sleep through it. I hated the darn thing but it was the only thing able to wake me.
It was only a few years after that when I had my first major crush that I actually looked forward to waking up and it took no more than a few seconds of the alarm clock ringing to wake me (as opposed to the several minutes it had previously required). Sadly, my beloved(?) alarm clock is now deceased due to one to many ‘accidental’ falls and bumps against the floor and wall.
Anyway, at that early age I realised I required some motivation to wake up and go to school-where education, friends and nagging had failed, a crush worked marvelously. I tried once again to apply this in college when it became painfully obvious that constantly going to class late was not something that endeared me to my lecturers.
However, after several attempts to intentionally like a guy failed miserably I figured it was time to learn a few survival skills. In this case, I found out exactly how many classes it took to miss to be barred from my final exams and note the temper of each lecturer I had. Some were more linient and could be sweet talked into turning my tardy attendance into full attendance (like I was never late! Woo Hoo!) whereas others apparently took great pleasure in marking students absent altogether for simply being late.
I learned only some were able to be swayed by pathetic faces and sincere apologies while others only accepted excuses backed by parents/guardians. So far, I have managed not to piss any of the lecturers off to the point of no return. It seems that the quality of my work plays a greater role than my not-so-perfect attendance.
Fortunately, I am one the common tardy students while there are a shocking number of hard-core late comers which drive lecturers to the brink of insanity (which they happily pay-back by torturing us with ridiculous assignments, pop quizzes and spontaneous presentations but I digress-that is another story for another day).
Now, I have come to the unhappy conclusion that the only way to get to campus before my first class begins is if there is a hunk whom I can be smitten with or if I can hunt down another old fashioned alarm clock thats more long lasting than my last. Until one or the other decides to plant itself on my doorstep, I can only hope my cell phone is more resilient to ‘accidental’ falls and bumps against the floor and wall.