« George W. Bush's Philosophy of History | Main | Tuition Hikes »
April 18, 2004
Duke Abolishes 8 AM Classes
Duke administrators made what I regard to be one of the better university administrative decisions I've seen in a long time (note: Yahoo links are notoriously unstable). They've decided to eliminate 8 AM classes in order to "help its sleep-deprived students, who too often are struggling to survive on a mix of caffeine, adrenaline and ambition." Not to mention their sleep-deprived, over-caffienated, ambitious professors.
I really do think this is a good idea and not just because I am a "night person." Okay, I can't really think of any other good reasons, but still, early morning classes were nearly impossible for me. I do find it disconcerting that someone who could qualify for admission to Duke University would need sleep orientation to "understand the importance of sleep."
Yes, I'm in the middle of a grading marathon, which means I'll be easily distracted for the next few days.
Posted by chuck at April 18, 2004 9:08 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.wordherders.net/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.fpl/1750
Comments
Way to go Duke. I had the unfortunate pleasure of taking a 7:45am Litigation class this semester. Oh.. it was so nice to see the sun rise as I was driving to class.
Posted by: Jen at April 18, 2004 10:52 PM
Wow, I wouldn't have survived. My second semester at Tech, I was scheduled to *teach* at 8 AM, which would have been dangerous for pretty much everyone involved. If I didn't sleepwalk in front of a MARTA train, I would have probably fallen asleep while teaching. Thankfully, I was able to convince a kind colleague to switch classes with me.
Posted by: chuck at April 18, 2004 11:19 PM
I don't get it: Won't 9:00 just be the new 8:00? Our school doesn't have 8:00 MWF classes (though we do on TR), and the 9:00 classes still have all the sluggishness of an 8:00 class.
Also, I used to volunteer for the 8:00 AM classes at Tech, especially in the second semester: Students voluntarily signing up for an 8:00 class tend to be self-selecting: They're morning people, often quite motivated, etc. (Or they haven't gone to bed yet. One of my best students at 8:00 turned into a nightmare the next semester, when I had him at noon. The problem? He'd try to get his daily sleep between his 8:00 class and my noon class, which inevitably left him super-groggy.)
Posted by: JBJ at April 19, 2004 12:06 AM
Sure it's arbitrary, but it's something I've internalized. Barring a *major* lifestyle change, I'm always going to be groggy in the morning and simply would not be able to give students my best work as a teacher.
I think that Duke was finding that most departments were caving to student habits and not scheduling classes until 10 AM anyway, so this is essentially a compromise. More than anything I found the University's plan to emphasize the "importance of sleep" amusing. Of course, I know from experience at Tech that a lot of smart students have rather unhealthy sleep habits.
Posted by: chuck at April 19, 2004 12:25 AM