Waking up at 8 a.m. on the university’s premises typically indicates one of the two things: either you’re a professor or you unintentionally enrolled up for an eight in the morning class and are now facing consequences. For the rest of the student group, this hour falls somewhere in between tradition and humor.
An 8 a.m. class is not just a class, it’s a lifestyle choice. It includes going to bed with good intentions, setting three alarms “just in case,” and still waking up in a state of shock because you hit the snooze button like it owed you money. You’re dressed in whatever is closest to your bed, energized by coffee that tastes like regret and emotionally unable to learn.
Universities insist that 8 a.m. classes build discipline. But let’s face it, we wouldn’t be learning macroeconomics while our brains were still evolving if concentration were the aim. According to Nature human behaviour, students had an hour less sleep when they had 8 a.m. classes, lower attendance and a negative correlation with GPA, suggesting early start times harm learning and alertness.
Even when students show up, their performance is questionable. Note-taking turns into drafts that hardly make sense. Someone always raises a question that has already been answered, not because they weren’t listening but because consciousness is optional at that hour.
The attendance drop says it all. As the semester goes on, 8 a.m. classes slowly transform from a full lecture hall into a support group for the sleep deprived. By midterms, the class roster is more of a suggestion than a reality. Learning outcomes suffer, grades slip and suddenly everyone’s GPAs are fighting for their life.
Supporters argue that 8 a.m. classes prepare students for the “real world.” But the real world now includes flexible schedules, work-from-home jobs and bosses who also don’t want meetings before coffee. College should prepare students to think, not to survive mornings that feel illegal.
This is not an attempt to eliminate 8 a.m. classes. Some students succeed in the morning and those schedules should remain available even if most of us don’t understand how they do it. However, starting core or essential topics so early feels more like a social experiment than a learning experience.
If universities actually want their students to succeed, they ought to schedule classes when they are focused, engaged and able to form full phrases. Because studying is challenging enough without battling your own biological clock before breakfast.
Until then, 8 a.m. classes will continue to be what they have always been, an examination of students’ stamina, coffee tolerance and willingness to give up attendance points.
Edited by Arohi Rai and Bidhya Sapkota and Eden Conrad
