Before coming to college, seven minutes were only in heaven. It meant awkward trips to the closet, not madcap rushes across campus just to get to class on time. But unfortunately, the latter is now the reality for Wash. U. students. In seven minutes, one has to get from one class to his or her next class no matter where the classes are. With campus expanding, seven minutes is just not enough time anymore. To help accommodate students better, the amount of passing time between classes should be increased from seven minutes to 10.
For people who do not have a long distance to travel, the seven minutes passing time is an eternity. But if you do have to travel the Wash. U. equivalent of the Siberian Plains, making a mad dash between classrooms in seven minutes is nearly impossible. And with classes being held all over campus, from the Village to Brown Hall, more and more people have to attempt to make this mad dash multiple times a week. Increasing the amount of passing time to 10 minutes would help ease the burden of students and professors who teach multiple classes in a row. It would also give students who can make it to class in the seven minutes allotted the chance to settle down and get prepared for the class, instead of just getting to sit down as the professor starts lecturing. This would prevent students from missing the first couple minutes of class, and from pulling muscles just to be able to get to class.
The extra three minutes of passing time would also give students who do not need a sherpa to get to class the chance to actually utilize the passing time. Seven minutes is often not enough to go and get a quick bite to eat or check one’s e-mail, and the passing time just becomes wasted for them. With an extra three minutes, doing this would become more feasible. This is increasingly important as more professors start to utilize e-mail to send class materials to students. The three minutes added to passing time could allow students to access these materials before class to understand the material better, instead of having to relearn it after class, when the student can finally check his or her e-mail.
It can be argued that the extra three minutes would just take valuable time away from teaching, and more time waiting for everyone to arrive. However, with passing time the way it is, those three minutes are often wasted anyway. Many students are not able to get to class in time anyway, and many others start to pack up and leave class early to make sure they can get to their next class on time. Furthermore, in an hour or 90 minute class, three minutes is relatively insignificant. These three minutes would, on the other hand, give students less stress as they try to get to class on time, and prevent them from missing part of the lecture.
Seven minutes is not a lot of time. It is especially not enough for passing time. With longer and longer distances to travel between classes, students need an extra three minutes so they don’t have to run across campus just to get to class on time, let alone catch their breath and get their notebooks out so they can actually learn what the professor is talking about. Having 10 minutes could make this possible. And that would be heaven.