Has another college student ever told you something like this?
I never bother going to the first day of classes. Nothing happens. The instructor hands out the syllabus and then lets us leave, or drones on and on about the syllabus and other unimportant things. No real material gets covered at all. No, I never bother going to the first day of a class. It's a waste of my time.
Wrong, wrong, so wrong. The first day of a class is essential in numerous ways. Here are a few major ones.
The syllabus sets forth the expectations you need to meet in order to do well in a class, and a review of the syllabus clarifies any questions you may have about those expectations. It gives you an overall feel for how much and what type of work you will need to do during the semester. This can be very important to maintaining your grades at a level you desire. For instance, if you will be balancing a hectic work schedule with your classes, you might find that a class that requires a lot of group work scheduled outside of class hours is not the best idea.
A syllabus, along with the instructor's overview of it, can also give you other valuable information in deciding whether this is a class you want to keep in your schedule. Not only will you get an idea of what the work for this class will be like, you also get a taste of the individual instructor's style and approach to teaching and learning. Sometimes, for a variety of reasons, the way a specific instructor teaches and the way a specific student learns is not a good match. It is better to find this out right away while there is a possibility of successfully adding another class to replace the one you feel won't work for you. There is no one perfect way to teach material, nor is there one perfect way to learn material.
Much important information that is not on the syllabus is often provided the first day of class. For example, I routinely demonstrate how to log into the course management system and access the student areas of my website during the first session. I will often have a college procedures question and answer session. I often talk about specific features of the textbook and give suggestions on how to best use it to maximize success. When time allows, I show the students how to search for and obtain a scholarly journal article online. So much of what happens in class, not just on the first day but during any class session, consists of non-repeatable events.
While some instructors may simply hand out syllabi and dismiss class on the first day, many of us are going to dig right into introductory material that lays the foundation for the rest of the semester. Time in the classroom is precious, and I for one firmly believe in getting the learning underway as soon as possible.
I saved the most compelling reason to attend the first day of class for last. Quite a few instructors will immediately drop students who do not show up on the first day and immediately take adds to fill in their places. In today's climate of an increased number of students trying to register for a smaller number of classes, keeping a seat in a class is becoming more competitive. It has become routine for full classes to also have a waitlist of 20, 30, or more students. While it's nearly impossible to get everyone on the waitlist into an already full section, many instructors will try to reasonably accommodate at least some of them. Therefore, if you choose not to go to the first day of a class, don't be too surprised if someone else has taken your place when you finally show up.
