For my past three terms on campus, I have taken courses in both the 10A and 2A time slots. You might ask why would I do this to myself, and I would tell you that I don't mind it. In fact, I often prefer it. This is not the view of most Dartmouth students, however, because for them the 10A-2A terror is something that should be avoided at all costs.
In their defense, 10As and 2As which run from 10:00 a.m. to 11:50 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. to 3:50 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays present several advantages over Monday/Wednesday/Friday classes. In a 65-minute long class at Dartmouth, professors often struggle to get through all the content, leaving little extra time for discussion or questions. The extra time in 10As and 2As gives professors not only more time to cover material and answer questions, but also greater flexibility in what they can do in class. Often, the first half of class will provide the basis for discussion in the second half, leaving ample time for both. In other cases, professors can cover complex material that is best taught in one class without having to rush through it or, worse yet, break it up between different days.
Why, then, do Dartmouth students avoid the 10A-2A? One explanation is that a 10A-2A means "having class all day Tuesday and Thursday," as one friend recently described it to me. Apparently, less than four hours of class corresponds to "all day." When it comes to a fraternity, however, Dartmouth students have no problem spending "all day" there. Furthermore, it was only a few years ago that most of us had five to six hours of class Monday through Friday (some of us even on Saturdays). Now we go to great lengths to avoid having three hours and 40 minutes of class two days a week. What has changed?
One reason is Dartmouth's four-day-a-week party culture. When I go out Monday and Wednesday nights, I almost always find friends rejoicing that they signed up for classes in the 10, 11 and 12 timeslots instead of 10A or 2A classes like some people they know (including me). The Dartmouth course schedule reinforces this culture, making it very easy for students to avoid class on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and sometimes even the entire day. Thus, for some, Monday Night Freeze and meetings are good enough reasons to avoid 10As and 2As.
There are a variety of other reasons people assert for avoiding 10As and 2As, however. For many, 10As and 2As are just too unbearably long. Other students enjoy having Tuesdays and Thursdays free to relax and do work. Some even argue that the cost of missing one class in a 10A or 2A course, given that it only meets twice a week, is justification not taking one. Do these reasons really justify not taking a class on a topic that interests you just because it happens to be a 10A or 2A?
Avoiding 10As and 2As is just one example of Dartmouth students arranging their schedule around their personal wants rather than academic interests. Most students, for example, will not even think about taking a 9L. Waking up for an 8:45 a.m. class is just too much, even if in high school most of us had class at 8:00 a.m. or earlier. Other students will not consider taking a new foreign language because it would likely mean waking up early for morning drill. Some students even arrange their schedules so they don't have class before 11 severely limiting what they can take but ensuring that they can sleep in a more important concern for them.
It should go without saying that students should pick classes based on academic interest rather than the time slot. Dartmouth students, however, seem increasingly likely to pick courses based on something as banal as their preferred sleep or going-out schedule rather than their academic interests. This raises the question of whether we are spending our tuition money $39,978 per year at last note on our primary academic interests or rather on some secondary interests that happen to align with our preferred ways of life. Those missed opportunities are real and can even mean the difference between majoring in one subject versus another. Given our limited time here at Dartmouth, we must not forget what we came here to do pursue our academic interests.
