Vroom 1

Seam Vroom

Mrs. Thomas

UWRT 1103 - 020

12 April 2018

Looking back to writing my thesis, and that the difficulties that I had with it along the

way, it does not seem like it was a large cost for the knowledge that I was able to gain from the

topic. Going into the writing I feared for the worst. But after gaining help from many of my peers

along the way, overcoming the gigantic mountain of the thesis was not as bad as I initially

thought. Going from the typical lab reports that I have grown used to over the past semester, I

thought that it would be much more difficult to add my own voice into the paper. However, this

was not the case and I much more enjoy being able to say what I want to say in my writing.

Final Thesis

College students are often are faced with many different ways of how they spend their

time. Students often try to maximize their time in college by putting themselves out there to

better themselves in addition to balancing their academic life. When students go to college a lot

more freedoms show up in their lives and a lot more choices arise. One of the first things that a

college student will have the opportunity to do when they get to college is to sign up for his or

her classes. When signing up, there are a lot of choices available when deciding when to take

classes, and what time works best for them. This leads to the question of can morning classes

create a successful environment for college students, based on the ideas so creating a set routine,

conducted experiments, and student accounts?

On the surface, many people can come up with ideas or reasons why they feel that having

morning classes is a good or bad idea. Some of these reasons why people might say that having
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morning classes can be a bad idea is the night owls, who stay up late at night doing homework,

hanging out with friends or doing other things. These people, who go to bed later than the

average person may often not be able to get up in the morning to make it to an early class. In

addition, to this benefit, I feel that classes in the afternoon or later part of the day can also be

helpful to those students who wait until the morning to do their assignments as they didn’t have

an assignment due until two o’clock in the afternoon they could spend an adequate amount of

time working on the assignment in the morning, to complete it well reather throwing it together

the last minute before it is due. Evening, classes can also offer an added benefit of not having to

wake up early on an early Monday from a weekend, to discover that you have the walk in the

rain to get to class. If you didn't have class until the afternoon this problem would be partially

solved by allowing you to sleep in longer, and get more rest, before making the trek in the

morning to class. In addition, by not having class until the later part of the the day, students

should have plenty of time to start their day off right with breakfast before class. This food

before class can be beneficial by allowing student to not have to feel hungry during lectures, and

focus on assignments.

Morning classes can also offer many potential benefits for students. One of these many

benefits can include more time in the afternoon for other things such as extracurricular clubs or

other activities. In addition, more time in the afternoon means that many students can take the

chance in the afternoon for them to complete their assignments for their classes, perhaps

allowing them do to better in school. For students who commute to their who commute to their

campus has a better advantage with finding parking for those student who have classes in the

morning, as a student’s whose class might not be until 2 O’Clock in the afternoon they will likely
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not need to be on campus as early as someone who has a class at 9. In addition, a morning class

and get someone out of bed to go to class, allowing them to be able to begin their day.

Many studies have been done in an attempt to find the most optimal class start time for

many students, not only in college but also in second and primary school. Reports of the

potential effects and benefits of morning classes have also been observed. This is what I will be

using to be able to prove or disprove my hypothesis of morning classes creating an effective

environment of college students.

With the time that students who prefer morning class spend in the morning, they can gain

more time in the afternoon for other things. James E. Porter, the President of StressStop.com and

a professor at Miami University in the English Department, shares information this his article,

“The Benefits of Going To Bed and Getting Up Early”, on the HuffingPost news website, that in

the morning there are often fewer distractions, which allow him to properly focus on things that

he needs to get done. He makes a reference to Steven Covey’s well known book The Seven

Habits of Highly Effective People that uninterrupted blocks of time are the most productive and

are well used periods of time for many people throughout the day. In his writing he mentions

many well known leaders such as Benjamin Franklin, who was fond of the idea: “Early to bed,

early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”. In addition, Porter states that going to

bed and getting up helps you body create a Circadian Rhythm, or a body's natural clock.

Establishing this cycle can help one to be able to create a schedule and be more productive

throughout the day.

College students, often have many things on their plate all at once, including class,

homework, studying, work, and other extracurricular activities, they must be able to make the

most out of their every day. This making the most of everyday involves a high precisions of
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productivity. Stephanie Vozza, is a writer who specializes in business productivity, from a

Oakland University, and the author of “Why The Most Productive People Do These Six Things

Every Day”. She wrote this article for the Fast Company, an online magazine that caters largely

to business and design. At the top of her list for the things that these productive people do is that

people get up and have a routine. She gives an example from Serial, a networking system

company, entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, Vozza said he “wakes up at 6 a.m. every day and

follows the same routine. ‘I start my day by consuming quite a lot of information,’ he writes”.

This idea of getting up early to have a routine is a supporting the idea of having a set schedule to

make a productive environment.

I agree with Porter and Vozza’s claims about the importance and the many of the benefits

that are associated with those who go to bed and night and get up at an early time to start their

day, as it can create a period of time that allows people to be more productive. In addition Porter

and Vozza also provide many well known peoples that claim much of their fame us from the fact

that they decide to make to most that they can from their everyday by getting up early.

An article that was written by Mariah Evans, Paul Kelley ad Jonathan Kelley who are

researchers at the University of Nevada Reno, in Sociology, Sleep, Applied Statistics, and

Memory Neuroscience programs there. In this study the researchers used two approaches in

determining start times for the students as the university that can be optimized for undergraduate

students. The data was collected from the survey based methods and then analyzed through

graphical and empirical means. According to researcher Mariah Evans, "The basic thrust is that

the best times of day for learning for college-age students are later than standard class hours

begin,". It was noted that in this survey that that from Neuroscientists in this experiment that for

many high school students and college freshmen and sophomores that their “natural day” begins
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approximately two hours later than the optimal day start time for adults at 9:00 a.m. In the survey

a questions asked its participates to categorize themselves as “morning” or “evening” people.

The results showed that the “evening” people outnumbered the “morning” people by 2:1. Mariah

Evans stated the following when it comes to best start class times for students, "The survey we

present here support that for college students, but they also show that when it comes to optimal

performance, no one time fits all.". This piece of data from associate professor of sociology at

the University of Nevada, Reno can show that there is no one best start time to fit every

individual who is in college.

The results from this experiment can go to state that there is no one set time that the

brains of college students are best wired. This experiments data was also collected from a

survey’s data, the sample of this survey provided by the University of Nevada, Reno data was

likely in to form of an optional response, were to survey was no a hundred percent random, as

likely only those students who wanted to take it took it.

“Predicting School Achievement: The Role of Inductive Reasoning, Sleep Length and

Morningness–Eveningness” is a research article from Dr. Juan Francisco, Dr. Díaz-Morales, and

Cristina Escribano. In this experiment information was to be tested and observed from students

on what type of class time environment that they learned best in. In the experiment there were

two sample groups. One of the sample groups had classes run in the morning and be finished by

noon, the other sample group had classes run in the afternoon and be finished by early evening

(around 5:00 p.m.). The students were evaluated on two tests, the first test was a test of the

students inductive reasoning, on a standardized test (test used was PMA-R test), and academic

performance test or a students GPA. It was concluded these results emphasizes“These results

show that a typical student will achieve the greatest scores on a standardized test at night rather
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than the morning, but will achieve a greater academic performance or a higher GPA in the

morning.”. This environment in time shows that on standardized test students will often perform

better toward the later-afternoon or evening part of the day, while a student’s GPA test to be

better when they are taking classes at the earlier part of the day, than in the afternoon.

The results of the experiment can relate back to the hypothesis of morning classes

creating a successful environment for students. From the data provided by Juan Francisco, Díaz-

Morales, and Cristina Escribano there is evidence to show that those students who take class in

the morning will tend to have a higher GPA, providing success in college, while those students

who take classes in the evening will have a greater tendency to be more successful on

standardized tests. Perhaps since in college there are fewer standardized test then and high

school, such the ACT and SAT it will be more beneficial to the standard tests in the later part of

the day instead of requiring many students to wake up early, on a Saturday to take a test.

Many students are able to voice their opinions about morning classes. These opinions

were collected by Rachel Costahaude, an experienced writer for Sundial, an online magazine

site. Her article “Morning Classes Prove to be Better for College Students” gives direct examples

of students who believe have benefited from take morning classes. The first example that

Costahaude gives in her article is from Ellie Sol, a 23 year old economics major who states

“(After a morning class) you don’t have to worry about it anymore and you can have time to

study or go out,” Sol said. “You’re fresher in the morning. Toward the night, you’re just tired.”.

In addition, Costahaude provides another example from Rayn Witkosky, who is a senior

geophysics major at California State University. Witkosky believes to much prefered morning

classes opposed to ones later in the day: “I get tired later on in the day, and it’s harder to focus

and concentrate,”. Costahaude included information about a study conducted at St. Lawrence
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University. From this study it was concluded that those students who took morning classes

tended to have higher grades than those who did not take morning classes.

Rachel Costahaude also includes a part about how quality of sleep can affect one

throughout the day, this quality of sleep was backed by Psychology professors, at St. Lawrence

University, Serge Onyper and Pamela Thacher. This was recorded in respects to the quality of

sleep that recieved. “The effects of later class-start times might include more sleep,” said

Thacher in a prepared statement. “But this might be offset by lower quality sleep, which in turn

might affect students’ ability to engage, intellectually, with their coursework.”. Psychologists

Onyper and Thacher, provide this information that emphasize that in sleep quality and be better

than quantity. Costahaude, also provides a reasonable study that states that students will typically

benefit from choosing to take morning classes, by having a high GPA than those who don't. It

was important that Costahaude was able to backup her claim with a study conducted at the

St.Lawrence, this is a way that puts evidence behind her argument and states more evidence.

Costahaude was able to provide the audience with useful first hand information about the

benefits that students can receive from taking classes in the morning, rather than in the afternoon

or at night, These benefits were shown from a direct sources of those impacted by class times,

students. These students provide much useful information their motives for signing up for a

morning class while their peers choose to sleep in. She is also provide reasonable evidence, and

proof from St. Lawrence University, Psychology professors Serge Onyper and Pamela Thacher

on the reason by morning classes can provide a better environment for students to learn and

succeed in college.

The studies and experiences observed have led to the conclusion that morning classes

create a successful environment for its students. James Porter and Stephanie Vozza have argued
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that getting up in the morning to being you day can prove to be beneficial in time management

and productivity, by using several examples from Stephen Covey, and Benjamin Franklin.

Mariah Evans, Paul Kelley and Jonathan Kelley where against the idea of morning classes, but

my analysis can show their finds to possibly be inaccurate. The studies provided by Dr. Juan

Francisco, Dr. Díaz-Morales, and Cristina Escribano were that students tended to have a higher

GPA if they were enrolled in morning classes, rather than night classes. Rachel Costahaude, a

writer for Sundial, online magazine, is able to provide accounts of students who say that they

have benefited from morning classes. In conclusion, morning classes can create a successful

environment for students given that those students enrolled in them tend to be more productive

throughout the day, maintain a higher GPA, and achieve other benefits by taking morning

classes.

Morning classes are something that is thought to be avoided at all costs, due to need for

college students to sleep in and start their day later. Of course, this idea does represent some, but

might not represent the majority. This information that I was able to find, is able to give evidence

on some of the positive effects of morning classes on students, as many of them have been able

to succeed in this type of environment.

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Works Cited

Costahaude, Rachel. “Morning Classes Prove to Be Better for College Students.” The Sundial,

22 Sept. 2011, sundial.csun.edu/2011/09/morning-classes-prove-to-be-better-for-college-

students/.

Francisco, Juan, et al. “Predicting School Achievement: The Role of Inductive

Reasoning, Sleep Length and Morningness–Eveningness.” Personality and Individual

Differences, Pergamon, 19 Mar. 2013,

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886913000809?via%3Dihub.

Porter, James E. “The Benefits Of Going To Bed Early And Getting Up Early.” The

Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 22 Mar. 2017,

www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-benefits-of-going-to-bed-early-and-getting-up-

early_us_58d11373e4b0e0d348b3478a.

University of Nevada, Reno. "College students study best later in the day, study shows:

Students learn more effectively between 11 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. than at other times of the

day." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 12 April 2017.

<www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170412105913.htm>.

Vozza, Stephanie. “Why The Most Productive People Do These Six Things Every

Day.”Fast Company, Fast Company, 19 Jan. 2017,

www.fastcompany.com/3066982/why-the-most-productive-people-do-these-six-things-

every-day.
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