As Told By Ginger

A couple of weekends ago, a few friends and I decided to play “Never Have I Ever” in a fit of middle school slumber party nostalgia. As we played, I started thinking about commonplace things I’ve never experienced. I’ve never broken a bone, for example, or gotten a speeding ticket or seen the Lord of the Rings trilogy (I know, I know – I’m missing out). But probably the single most shocking thing I’ve never done is skip a class.

Yes, you read that right. I am a living, breathing college student who has never straight up skipped a class. I’ve missed classes for illnesses or appointments, sure, but I’ve never given in to the insane temptation of a beautiful spring day or opted to stay in bed for a few extra hours. I’ve never flat-out not shown up without giving the professor any advanced warning and a (fairly) legitimate reason, crazy as that may be.

Believe me, it’s not for lack of wanting. There were mornings last semester when going to my 8 a.m. seemed like the absolute worst thing I could be doing with my time.

There were days when I would silently curse myself for not catching up on sleep when I got to class only to find we weren’t doing anything useful. There were days when my friends were going to the beach and it was almost physically painful to sit in Ryder for an hour. Nonetheless, I was there when the teacher took attendance, every single time.

I’m not really sure why this is. I’m not afraid to break the rules within reason, and I’m definitely not perfect. But for some reason, I just can’t convince myself that skipping a class is a good idea, even when I overslept or feel sick or just really, really don’t want to be there. For reasons that are unclear to me, my guilty conscience goes into overdrive.

Part of it is that I’ve never had a giant lecture hall class. Most of my classes have 20 students or fewer in them – humanities majors, you know what I’m talking about – and the fact is, when your professor knows your name and is all-too-aware of when you’re not there, it’s a lot harder to justify not showing up just for the hell of it. So science majors, see this as a silver lining to those three-hour labs and unending practice problems.

The biggest factor in my shining attendance record, though, is my conscience. I honestly couldn’t tell you why my subconscious picked skipping classes to be my number one guilt trip, but I just can’t escape the voices in my head pushing me to class. Every time the deliciously tempting idea of skipping floats into my head, sirens go off and my brain provides a million reasons why I shouldn’t. My parents are paying an obscene amount of money for me to haul myself out of bed at 8 a.m. My teacher will hate me forever if I don’t go. There might be a pop quiz today. Maybe we’ll all get free ice cream cake and a check for $1 million just for showing up.

Yes, it’s ridiculous. I know that in all likelihood, skipping out on my journalism class just once is going to have zero impact on my grade and/or long-term happiness. But I also know that, for me, it simply isn’t worth the guilt and the anxiety for an extra hour of hanging with friends or, if we’re being real, watching “Say Yes to the Dress” in my pajamas. And besides, I can’t give away my secret weapon for “Never Have I Ever.”

 – Jamie Ducharme can be reached at [email protected]