Opinion

Op-ed: Extensive academic work ethic may ace courses, but not reality

By Claire Carter

Posted on Sept. 28, 2011, at 8:53 p.m.

Being a student is a full-time job — one that can require way more work than a “real world” occupation.

Students at the University of Maine typically take five classes each semester in order to graduate in four years. After graduation, most will probably pursue jobs applicable to their major fields of study and won’t have so many random tasks straying from that focal point, unlike now, where general education requirements are a continual nuisance.

It’s hard to take a class you don’t really care about, but everyone encounters them in order to reach the 120-credit requirement for graduation, including myself. As a result, I don’t spend as much time on classes that seem less important — I do enough to earn the credits, but I don’t go overboard.

Yet several of my classes have gotten lectured by professors who say that college is our job and we should be spending a sufficient amount of time on all classes.

The other day, one of my teachers told my class that studies have shown if a college student wants an “A” in a course, he or she must spend three times as many hours working outside of class for every credit hour that course is worth — in addition to class time.

That means a three-credit class requires nine hours of outside work and a four-credit class requires 12 hours. If a student aims for a B, then two times as much outside work is required. If a student doesn’t spend any time working outside of class, then they’re truly in trouble.

I instantly felt guilty because I know I don’t spend that much time on some of my classes. Then I decided to do some math to see if working that much is even plausible.

There are 168 hours in a week. I’m taking five classes — two with labs — which adds up to 17 credit hours. One of my classes meets twice a week for two hours so I count that as an 18th credit, so there’s 18 hours of my week gone.

In theory, if I want to try to get all A’s — which isn’t necessary, but just for the sake of argument — I should spend 54 total hours outside my classes reading, doing homework, studying, etc. I’m now left with 96 hours of my week.

I have to factor in sleeping, say, eight hours each night to function, so there’s 56 more hours gone and 40 hours left of my week.

I have a job that I go to for about 10 hours a week, so now I’m left with 30 hours.

I have to eat, and I should throw in a shower every once in a while so as to not offend anyone — I’ll give those things about two hours each day.

I’m left with 16 hours a week.

That equals to a little less than two and a half hours free each day, theoretically. Two hours is about the total time of my breaks in between classes, so, according to the outside-work theory, this is my only free time during the entire day.

This sounds pretty ridiculous and sends me on another guilt trip just because I don’t spend every waking hour doing class work. I do everything that’s assigned and study when necessary, but I guess I should be doing even more than that if I want to follow my teacher’s advice.

Some students juggle several jobs and participate in multiple extracurricular activities, so it boggles my mind how they get their schoolwork done and are left with any time to themselves.

I know, being a student is considered our “job” right now and requires hard work in and out of class. But when I graduate, I really hope I’m not spending 72 hours a week at my job like I’m supposed to be doing now if I want exceptional grades.

A typical 9-to-5 job, five days a week adds up to 40 hours. Even if one works overtime or on the weekends occasionally, that doesn’t add up to a student’s theoretical time working.

I don’t know anyone who actual follows this work theory — it seems pretty much impossible even if one tried. There is more to life than work — we need time to visit with friends and family, relax and enjoy our lives.

So what is a student to do? Savor the two hours they have between classes and torment themselves with schoolwork the rest of their waking day, or sacrifice a higher grade just to maintain sanity?

I say find a happy medium: try your best in your classes, but don’t drive yourself crazy. Have a life, smell the roses and ignore the guilt trips.

Claire Carter is a fourth-year journalism student. She is a chief copy editor at The Maine Campus.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 28th, 2011, 8:53 pm. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.