Our Voice

Students should not complain about Friday classes

At Georgia College there are certainly a lot of negative connotations that go along with taking Friday classes. It is quite common to hear students complaining about having to attend a class on what many see as the third day of the weekend. There is no doubt that Friday classes can seem like a burden at times, especially the ones that take place really early in the morning or late in the afternoon.

It can be extremely difficult to have to get out of bed for an 8 a.m. Friday class or have to wait around for a 4 p.m. class when so many people at that point have already headed home for the weekend. However, we at The Colonnade feel that there are many positive components to Friday classes that are being overlooked and need to be recognized.

First, Friday classes serve the purpose of helping college students prepare for life’s next step: the workforce. While there are the students that will continue their education by pursuing a number of degrees, such as a master’s, many college students will enter the workforce after obtaining their bachelor’s degrees. As unfortunate as it is, the majority of adults in the work force with full-time jobs have to go to work at least 40 hours a week, five days a week, including Fridays.

After we graduate and enter the work force, we do not get to stay in bed and relax on Fridays, we have to get out of bed and be productive on Fridays if we want to keep our jobs.

Having classes on Friday prepares us to enter the work force.

Having to attend class on Friday also should not be so dreaded because it is not a new concept to college students. Ever since kindergarten, or even preschool, all the way to senior year of high school, the majority of us had to go to school Monday through Friday from around 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., not to mention the large number of us that had extracurricular activities to do after school was out.

Having class on Friday is not something that college students have never seen before, but is simply having college students continue to do something they have done since they were children and will have to continue to do when they graduate college. Friday classes can also be a huge benefit for keeping a student sharp on the subject of their class. In certain classes, if too much of a break is taken from the subject, students can forget what they have learned.

Friday classes can decrease the possibility that students will forget what they have learned by shortening the amount of time the student goes without seeing the subject material, which can ultimately lead to students performing better in their classes.

Also, if a student misses one class session for a class that meets three times a week, the blowback on that student will be much less severe than a student who misses one class session of a class that meets twice a week.

If a student misses a class that meets three times a week, they will have only missed 50 minutes of lecture, but if that student misses a lecture for a class that meets twice a week, they are missing half a week of class, which can be difficult to make up.

We at The Colonnade feel that having to attend Friday classes is something that may seem like an inconvenience, but serves to be highly beneficial for the present and future.

Posted by gcsunade on Nov 10 2011. Filed under Letters to the Editor, Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.