So as previously mentioned, I'm a university student. I've got a pretty heavy course-load this semester and occasionally I will skip a class or two. What I find the most interesting about this is what class I decide to skip. It's almost always my Political Science course and I don't really know why. I don't particularly hate that course and it isn't even at a weird time. It's 11 to 1230 on tuesday and thursday, and I'm already there for Anthro earlier. But so far this semester, probably like a quarter of the time I just go home at 11. This is also one of the worst classes to skip as I find out when I have to write a paper for him. His papers are unlike anything I've ever written. He doesn't want us to do any research other than the stuff he assigns us, he doesn't care if we cite properly as long as we cite somehow, and he even said we could write it in first-person. I've never heard a prof say things like that. First of all the research thing isn't that odd since we usually have like six articles to read anyway, but the not citing properly? If there is one overlapping thing I've been taught by all my profs is that citations are the most important thing in a paper and if not done correctly you could be expelled for plagiarism. But this guy just says "whatever, just put a last name." Then the whole you can write in first-person. If there is a second overlapping thing I've been taught by all my teachers since like grade ten is that you never write an academic paper in first-person. But I digress, his papers are weird and based heavily on lectures and discussed readings, so I shouldn't skip this class, I know that, but why do I?
Lets take a look at my other classes that I rarely, if ever, skip. I have an english literature that I have yet to read anything for, an Anthro that I kinda enjoy, a history that is excruciatingly boring most days, and an english pop-culture studies. I've never missed anthro, I've only missed the english lit once to work on a paper, and then I've missed three of the history and other english course. If I had to pick my least favourite course it wold have to be history, and even though this course is in the afternoon and I could easily just go/stay home, I don't. I go to the class, I sit through 80 minutes of who knows what, and I almost always complain. Another class I really should be skipping is my english-lit. First of all I almost never read whatever we're talking about, and secondly it is my only morning class on monday, wednesday, and friday. So if I skipped the class I could sleep all morning! But I show up for the hour consistently.
I've thought about this for a while and I've deduced the reason to why I skip poli-sci and no other course. It isn't about how much I enjoy the course, it isn't about the professor, it isn't even about the time. It's about who's in the class with me. This just occurred to me recently but in every one of my other classes I have at least one friend, and even though during the class we obviously don't talk, that bit of communication before and after the class keeps me coming back. I've noticed that, unlike high school, university for me is a lot less social. I have yet to make any real friends at university and the only people I talk to are the ones I've known since high school. In poli-sci I don't know anybody so even though I don't think about it that way, I find no reason to go. But on tuesday night at 5:30 when I have to go to class, I don't mind cause I know I've got a buddy in that class. This has been an eye-opening revelation. Maybe I should make an effort to make friends in poli-sci...
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