Decreasing the hour on students’ alarm clocks might increase their grade point averages.
A study conducted by St. Lawrence University in New York showed that students who wake up for earlier classes are more likely to perform well academically, a trend some OU professors said they are surprised to see.
Serge Onyper, assistant professor of psychology at St. Lawrence, was one researcher involved in this study.
“Our explanation for this outcome is that students who do not have early morning classes tend to stay up later and also party more,” he said in an email. “Students who realize that they have to get up early in the morning can act responsibly and party less and perhaps go to sleep a little earlier.”
In the study, students’ grade point averages while taking 8 or 8:30 a.m. classes was .06 points higher than those whose classes start at 11:30 a.m.
Beth Quitslund, director of undergraduate studies in OU’s English department, said she has seen positive results from early start times.
She taught a composition course during Winter Quarter that required students to begin at 8 a.m. It ended up being one of her most successful classes, Quitsland said.
“Those are motivated students,” she said. “I would consider doing it again, just because those students were self-selected to be willing to be up that early in the morning.”
However, she said she is not sure whether offering more early classes would benefit OU’s students, since students won’t be successful in early classes unless they already take their studies seriously.
Bobbie Jaquish, a sophomore studying publication design, said that in all of her classes that began in the morning, she earned good grades, perhaps due to the time.
“It gets you into a routine and lets you have more of the day to work things out,” she said. “It’s better for me to start early. I feel sharper in the morning, I think maybe because I have to focus harder to stay awake.”
Alex Randall, a sophomore studying accounting, said he uses his morning enthusiasm to be productive.
“I’m more of a morning person, and I can use that time to study for tests and finish my homework,” he said.
Not all teachers have seen such results with early-morning classes.
“The study surprises me,” Spanish professor Tom Franz said. “Once (students) become teens and older, they don’t respond to working at those early hours.”
With many students in the process of enrolling for winter courses, perhaps students should try getting up a little bit earlier, Onyper said.
But at a school with the No. 1 party school reputation, not all students are willing to try early morning classes.
“OU students won’t be able to sleep until noon every day of our lives,” said Danielle Watson, a sophomore studying teaching. “But it’s a nuisance because not everyone has the convenience of having classes one after another. So you have to stay up late to get up early the next day. It’s not easy.”
Other students said they do not agree that early risers are less likely to consume alcohol. Joseph Hightower, a freshman studying sports management, said he does not let his 8 a.m. class keep him from drinking the night before.
“That’s stupid,” Hightower said. “Just because students have to get up earlier doesn’t mean they won’t drink. I’m hungover now.”
sj950610@ohiou.edu
