Editor’s Note: All opinion section content reflects the views of the individual author only and does not represent a stance taken by The Collegian or its editorial board.
An hour and 15 minutes doesn’t seem like a large amount of time, until it’s a Tuesday or a Thursday. On those days, I always find myself looking up at the clock when only 30 minutes have passed and am surprised when I have over half a class period left.
It’s not that I’m any less engaged or interested in my Tuesday and Thursday courses — in fact, they’re some of my favorite contentwise. It’s simply that their duration is hard to get used to when juxtaposed with the shorter 50-minute blocks on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. This scheduling difference is inconvenient for a number of reasons, and it is especially frustrating because it could be easily solved by getting rid of classes on Friday.
It is definitely a college student’s choice and responsibility to focus in class. Unlike grades K-12, individuals decide to pursue university and are more accountable for the learning they achieve accordingly. This being said, the inconsistent scheduling caused by the difference in class lengths does not set students up to succeed. The daily change in course duration breaks up routines, which are shown to improve focus and reduce stress when consistent.
“By taking Fridays out of the equation and dividing those 50 minutes of course time between Monday and Wednesday, classes would be uniform for four days of the week.”
Realistically, 25 extra minutes isn’t that long. However, it still accounts for half of an MWF class period. Instead of looking up at the clock when only 30 minutes of the class have passed, you would be over halfway done in a 50-minute class and ready to be done. A significant amount of content can be covered in this additional time, which can make longer classes feel more challenging. It’s like training for a 5K then having to run a marathon; there’s a difference in necessary stamina. I personally find it harder to pay attention toward the end of a TR course — a phenomenon that does not occur for me during the rest of the week.
Having classes start 30 minutes into an hour and end 45 minutes after can also be confusing and irritating when it comes to scheduling. It’s easy to visualize how much time you have left to get ready when it’s 9 a.m. and your next class begins at 10 a.m. The progression of the hour lines up with what’s on the clock. From 8:30-9:30 a.m., it can be easy to over or underestimate how much time you have left from a quick glance, and this is especially true if you aren’t particularly oriented to which day of the week it is.
Perhaps this dichotomy between TR class schedules with the rest of the week isn’t that significant a problem for students on a day-to-day basis. At any given moment, it’s only a mild irritant to me, but sometimes not even that. However, classes are a commitment for an entire semester, and typical students will suffer through eight of them before they graduate. This inconsistency in scheduling can grow to be grating over time, especially when fixing it would be quite simple.
Tuesday and Thursday classes wouldn’t feel so long if an hour and 15 minutes were the standardized class period. By taking Fridays out of the equation and dividing those 50 minutes of course time between Monday and Wednesday, classes would be uniform for four days of the week. A three-day weekend would also allow for better recharge and make travel easier for those who want to make a trip home.
This setup would also benefit instructors, whose schedules largely mirror students’. Other faculty at Colorado State University would have an extra day to work on campus without accounting for crowds that come with passing periods as well. Overall, getting rid of the hated Friday classes would be a win-win.
An inconsistent class schedule throughout the week is far from the end of the world. A change to make it more uniform would be easy and greatly benefit all members of the CSU community, though. There’s no reason to avoid a simple adjustment when such subtle changes can make all the difference.
Reach Hayley Bisant at letters@collegian.com or on Twitter @CSUCollegian.
