If a classmate is sleeping in class next to you, what do you do? Do you wake them up from their stress-induced, sleep-deprived-now-fulfilling slumber or do you allow them to slip away from the anxiety of academia just long enough for their face to hit the table?

There are three aspects of a college student’s life. All three aspects start with the letter S. The catch? An individual is only able to choose two. The three aspects are Social, School, and Sleep. It is often said that sleep is the most desired, but the one that is first to be sacrificed so a sleeper in class isn’t altogether uncommon.

My question originated in one of my morning classes. The girl sitting next to me could NOT keep her head up. The discussion wasn’t exactly exciting, but it seemed important to me, at least. I watched as her head bobbed up and down like a buoy a little way off the coast of an excited sea; some dips were rather peaceful while others quite violent. The thought dawned upon me to wake her up because the professor and some others in the class had observed this girls state of being. I went to nudge her, but I stopped myself. Who was I to judge how much sleep this girl gets? But don’t I have an obligation as a fellow student to make sure she’s conscious for the lecture? Sleeping in class is just as bad as not attending. The same amount of knowledge is gained either way. Do you wake up your colleague if he/she is sleeping?

The answer depends on the situation because not every situation is the same. If you know the person has had a rough night yet still tries to come to lecture, advising them to sleep through morning class in order to possibly prepare for an afternoon class is probably best. Now that being said, it could be that in the morning class there’s a test or something with a lot of points, in which case you may have to be like Harry Potter and keep forcing Dumbledore to drink the torturous liquid. That’s college!!

I’ve had my fair share of rough nights and then subsequent classes lasting for what seems like eternity. College shapes an individual into functioning members of society so there are going to be times where you have to suck up whatever you may be going through and get your butt to class. But unlike any job, you may have the opportunity to skip class, have a friend take notes, and catch up on some sleep so you don’t get sick. This isn’t the real life yet! Enjoy college while it lasts because real life is going to hit us all like a truck!

I did not wake up the girl sitting next to me just because by the time I finished my thought, she had regained consciousness. My answer is to just be kind in anything you do. If you wake them up, don’t be a jerk. If you choose to let them sleep, offer them a copy of your notes. College is stressful as it is so we don’t need to be mean to each other on top of it.

Somehow Trudging Through College,

JS