At one point or another in your college career, everyone wonders if maybe they can skip a class or two. It’s a common question: should I skip class? And the answer whether skipping class is a good idea or not very much depends on the class you want to skip, your reason for skipping, and what you will do with that extra time. Read on to find out if you really could skip that class or not.
Should I Skip Class? How To Know
There may be times when skipping class is okay, and there are other times when you should avoid skipping. Here’s a few ways to know if you should skip class:
Read The Syllabus
Before you think about skipping class, read the syllabus! It will hold important information about participation points, graded attendance, and absence procedures. You should also double-check the class schedule to confirm that there are no exams, mandatory presentations, or assignments due on the day you need to skip.
Get to Know The Professor
Find out how your professor reacts to others who skip class. Do they talk to the students afterwards? Do they act like it’s no big deal? Do they mention the absence during class? Try to find out if the professor takes attendance or not as well.
If you need a mental health day, you should take it. Sick days are not just about physical well being, but mental and emotional as well. But make sure you put that mental health day to good use — meditate, talk to a loved one, go for a walk, do some creative expression — whatever helps you feel better. Make the day all about you.
2. You Need To Work
If you are struggling to make ends meet, it may be worthwhile to take an extra shift during class time. Try not to make it a habit, however. To avoid this happening often, make sure your work schedules and class schedules are not in conflict with one another each semester, and that you have plenty of time to work outside of class time.
3. It’s A Waste Of Time
If you have gone through the class enough times to know that your instructor’s teaching strategy simply isn’t working for you, and you have found more effective ways to learn the material, it may make sense to spend that class time doing something else. Before you make the choice to skip class for the rest of the semester, however, double check the syllabus to see if class attendance counts for your grade. If that’s the case, then it isn’t a waste to attend class.
4. You Need To Finish An Assignment
If participation counts for zero points, and an upcoming assignment or exam is worth 20% of your grade, it may be in your favor to spend the class time finishing the assignment, practicing for your presentation, or studying for an exam.
3 Times NOT To Skip Class
There are three times when skipping class is non-negotiable. Don’t skip in the following circ*mstances:
1. The Day Before The Exam
Don’t skip class the day just before a big exam. Oftentimes, this is a day for review, and you may receive additional help or information about what might be on the test. Even if it’s not written in the syllabus as a review day, it may become one anyways.
2. When Participation Counts
When attendance and participation count for part of your grade, don’t make it a habit to skip class. Those docked points will add up over the semester.
This one might seem obvious, but unfortunately it can happen. To avoid this, double check the class syllabus often, check in with classmates and professors often, and write down all exam dates in your personal calendar. The same goes for presentations and large project or essay due dates.
Tuition is usually paid by number of credits, so you are literally paying per credit for the classes you are taking in college. Let’s say, for example, you sign up for the average of 15 hours of class per week. According to the average cost of tuition, this can mean you are paying $51.02 per class at a public college, and $69.40 per class at a private one. So, essentially, each class you skip is money down the drain. And tuition can run much higher than those figures.
2. Your Grade May Suffer
If participation points are measured in attendance, comments during lectures, or other in-person actions, skipping class means losing out on those points. Even if attendance and participation are not part of the class grade, repeated absences may factor in when professors are grading your projects and assignments.
3. It May Start A Bad Habit
Once you skip class once, you will likely be tempted to skip again. This can lead to a pattern of skipping class that you never meant to get into. It’s best not to give yourself the chance to get into this habit at all by attending lectures each time.
When you miss a class, you need to find out what you missed, what happened in class, catch up on any revised due dates, study the material, and more. You may spend more time playing catch up than you would have spent in class!
5. Skipping Class Leads To Anxiety
If you skip a class, you may start to worry about what you missed. You also may need to start scrambling to catch up, reach out to classmates to find out what happened, and worry about what your instructor thinks about you. If you lean on the anxious side, it may be better to just attend the class and skip the worrying.
6. Sends The Wrong Message
Professors are passionate about the subject that they are teaching, and show up to share that knowledge with students. Moreover, they put a lot of effort into the classes that they teach. So just deciding not to show up sends a message of disrespect to the instructor.
Alternatively, students who regularly attend lectures show the professor their commitment to their education and can make an excellent impression, leading to potential professional and academic opportunities.
The Bottom Line
Overall, the choice to skip class really depends on something called opportunity cost. If the opportunity to do something useful or beneficial means skipping class, then it may be worth the cost of skipping that class. However, the vast majority of the time, class is the most worthwhile or beneficial use of your time for that hour. It is important to get the most out of your education, and the most out of your financial investment — and that means going to class.
At UoPeople, our blog writers are thinkers, researchers, and experts dedicated to curating articles relevant to our mission: making higher education accessible to everyone.
Many schools require students to attend a certain percentage of courses in order to go on to the next grade or graduate. If a student is truant repeatedly, they may be required to repeat a grade. Other penalties include fines, counseling, or detention.
Taking time off from the stresses of school frees students from a weight, and even if it's for a day it can have a positive impact; especially if the student spends that time doing activities that are good for their mental health.
Most classes are three credit hours per week. Every time you miss a class, you miss a significant amount of work—especially if the class only meets once or twice a week. If you skip, you have to find someone who's willing to share their notes, then try to teach yourself.
Poor school performance, loneliness, decreased self-worth, increased mental health problems, substance abuse, risky sexual behavior, conflict with parents, academic penalties like being held back, and even potential fines or criminal charges for both student and parents in some cases.
Limiting Internet time. Grounding teens from attending school events (when schools allow such events) Deactivating social media accounts. Taking away a teen's car and/or driver's license.
An August study from Stanford Research found that more than 25% of students were classified as chronically absent in the 2021-22 school year because they had missed at least 10% of the school year. Comparatively, before the pandemic, only 15% of students had such high levels of absenteeism, the study noted.
Skipping class is arguably one of the easiest things that we can do as college students. Not only is it free, it frees up time and allows you to sleep longer than you were going to originally or work on homework you might have missed. However much like a drug, it only takes one skip to become hooked.
Avoid highly populated areas or spaces that are out in the open.Utilize bathrooms. If you're not planning on skipping the entire day, consider hanging out in a restroom. As long as you don't draw attention to yourself, you should be able to stay there for a period or two without notice.
As students advance in grades, their workload is bound to increase. A child who previously breezed through work may face unprepared academic pressures. The drastic transition can be overwhelming for your child, who might struggle to adjust to the new academic pace in the higher grade.
Chronic absenteeism means missing too much school—for any reason—excused or unexcused. Experts and a growing number of states define chronic absenteeism as missing 10% (or around 18 days) during a school year.
Lack of transportation is among the most common reasons, but sometimes students have to look after younger siblings or go to work. In some cases, students stay home because they're being bullied or don't like their teachers.
If you begin skipping classes, it can also become easier over time to convince yourself it's okay not to attend. This can quickly reach a point where your absences have added up, and it's hard for your grades to rebound.
Introduction: My name is Edwin Metz, I am a fair, energetic, helpful, brave, outstanding, nice, helpful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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