College students have many responsibilities. We have to finish assignments, study for exams, go to class, and many more. Professors have their share, too. They have to read papers, grade tests and create lesson plans.
However, there is one responsibility that some professors aren’t fulfilling: finishing class on time. Almost every day in one of my Monday/Wednesday/Friday classes, the professor lets us out about five minutes late. Not once does this professor acknowledge or apologize for going over the time limit.
This is frustrating and impolite, especially to those students who have another class on the other side of campus or who have appointments scheduled thinking that they would get out on time. Now, because of one teacher, they are late and disruptive to another person’s schedule. This is an unfair situation that has to stop.
If students do their part by showing up on time to class, then professors owe it to them to let the class out at the scheduled time.
Many times this professor will try to squeeze in some more points in these expired five minutes. Usually it’s information that was intended for the 50-minute lecture but was not addressed for some reason. Obviously, professors cannot help if the lectures go a different way or if more discussion is needed to clarify instruction for the class. However, they should plan to allow a few extra minutes during the lecture for unanticipated questions.
We do our homework and professors need to do theirs, too – by creating a lesson that fits within the time limits.
Teaching a lesson and having extra time for questions and discussion is difficult to accomplish in 50 minutes. By the time the class gets settled in, 10 minutes have gone by, leaving only 40 minutes for lecture and questions. For some in-depth classes, that is not nearly enough time to completely communicate and comprehend material.
Journalism professor Mel Coffee feels like he can never finish a lesson in his 50-minute classes.
He said, “I hate starting a class and feeling like I have to rush because the clock seems to be ticking so fast. I feel I’m cheating the students and cheating the topic for that particular class.”
This is a growing problem that needs to be fixed. In order to better use both students’ and professors’ time, more classes should be held two days a week for one hour and 20 minutes.
This semester, SMU offers 701 classes that meet two days during the week, versus 439 three-day a week classes, according to the registrar’s office. The two-day-per-week classes account for 51.9 percent of all undergraduate classes, and 55.2 percent of SMU students are enrolled in them. Clearly, students prefer longer classes that meet fewer days during the week.
The journalism department used to only offer two-day-a-week classes, but it changed because the department was messing up the availability of classrooms that it shared with other departments. Administrator of the journalism division Lisa Goodson prefers to only have the longer classes, but the conflict prevented it. If all classes switched to two days a week, that conflict could be eliminated.
This longer class time is much more productive. Our time is wasted when professors rush through lectures in order to squeeze in everything. When they hurry through a lecture, students race to take notes and they can’t understand the material in a focused way. The quality of class time is more valuable than the quantity of classes each week.
By Friday, most students’ brains are on weekend mode, and their attention span in class is short. It’s better to keep them in class 30 minutes longer where they can stay focused and not have to follow a rushed lecture. Such scheduling will help students learn in a more concentrated environment and give their brains time to rest.
Annalise Ghiz is a junior journalism major. She may be contacted at [email protected].
