Sylla"bye-bye"

Sac State students return to school this fall with mixed reactions to their first day experiences.

The idea of hearing, "so long" 12 minutes and one syllabus into the first day of a 2 hour and 50 minute lecture class is the academic equivalent of Christmas morning.

Not so for senior Cody Parcell who says that he must travel 30 minutes by car or over an hour on the light rail only to be read a piece of paper and shown the door.

It's the end of summer and everyone's... well, not exactly looking forward to diving back into the college scene, so having that first day with minimal responsibilities, other than showing up and maintaining consciousness is often viewed as a Godsend, according to Sac State students Brandon Van Meeter and Allison Morgado.

According to these digital video majors, having that first day to ease back into the swing of things is a welcome experience. It gives them a chance to evaluate the course as well as the teacher and have the rest of their day to spend in other endeavors.

Students aren't the only ones with an opinion. Professor of communications, Steve Buss, said the first day of instruction is essentially a wash anyway.

Buss says students are busy and preoccupied. Some are going to drop the class, others are going to add. Any lecture given on the first day is basically going in one ear and out the other.

In the following interviews, students and faculty give their opinions on this subject. Is this practice one with any merit?

Are students, and faculty for that matter benefitting from having that one last day of readjustment?

Or, as a commuter school, are students being forced, on threat of being dropped from the class, to make an inessential trip for little more than a few slips of paper?