Papers taped on classroom doors notifying students that class has been cancelled.
What do most students do when their first class is cancelled? Like any good student, they go to the learning center or library and get some work done for another class… right?
Some students take advantage of this extra time and get some work done, but there are those few students who don’t. For some students, class cancelled means take the rest of the day off or “Eh, I’ll skip the rest of the day”.
So why do these students skip class? Is it a feeling of being rebellious or just out of laziness?
According to a study done by Gary Wyatt, a professor at Emporia State University, there are nine variables on why students skip class. Most students skip because they do not like the class, living arrangements, time spent studying, frequency of alcohol consumption, time spent working part/full-time jobs, gender, age, and lastly previous semesters GPA average.
“It’s not a habit I have but I’ll skip my other classes when my first class is cancelled,” said Darcy Peery, 21, criminal justice.
Most students do not realize that there are many consequences for skipping class or a few classes. For one, a student can slowly fall behind in lecture and have no idea what is going on during the next class. This may encourage them to skip again since they don’t know what is being discussed in class. Secondly, it may affect your grade in several different ways.
Sergio Santillan, 22, psychology, agrees that it can affect grades in class.
“It turned into a habit when my teacher started cancelling class or I was late,” he said. “My other professors took attendance so my grade slowly started dropping. I also realized I was procrastinating and wasn’t preparing for quizzes and exams which resulted in me getting low scores.”
Many students have always been doing this as part of a habit but they do not realize it affects them in many ways. It can be a waste of money since they will have to take the class all over again.
Christine Salman, 20, undecided, fell for this trap as well.
“I had to take intermediate algebra three times,” she said. “The first two times I decided it would be a good idea to skip class or just not even go.”
Professors at Cypress College have noticed that students are dropping because of poor attendance.l
“Once the students stop coming or leaving early, it really shows on their exams” says Jane Gross, an algebra professor. “It’s very unlikely that students who start skipping will follow through with homework and other assignments. They usually drop or I’ll drop them towards the end of the semester”.
Once students dig themselves into this hole, it’s difficult or virtually impossible to climb out of it. By the time they realize what they’ve gotten into, it’s a bit too late to save themselves.
