Better late than never

Another Thursday rolled around, and once again I found myself running late to class. This, I will admit, seems to have become a weekly ritual, permanently woven into the tapestry that is my senior year. Yes, Wednesday nights at the Bird are my weakness. And as much as I try to make myself stay away, I am weak, and end up going anyway, despite the vows I made to myself only one week before, that I would never again return for that drink special. But, that is just my excuse for Wednesdays -- the rest of the week's blunders in punctuality are up for grabs. \nI often wonder why teachers have attendance policies at all. This may sound silly, but why are they necessary? The people that care about getting their education will show up to class, and those who don't will most likely suffer a bad grade. I don't know what is worse: Getting that extra sleep so you can pay attention in your next class thus skipping a class or falling asleep in both. From my experience, teachers don't respond positively to either option. It is universally understood: You get out what you put in. \nSeeing this will probably not be an option in the near future, the ultimate question becomes: Is it better to arrive to class late, to fall asleep in class or to just not go at all? Which do teachers resent more? I have tested this out, for the scientific research that this column required (for the good of my readers and the United States of America). And I seem to receive the same levels of scorn either way. For now, my solution is lots of coffee and to try to limit those snooze button hits.\nMoving on, there are many different ways to be late. First, the slight infraction, meaning your tardiness falls into a time cushion of around five to twenty minutes. Usually this is due to a bus not running on schedule, or one so full that it passes you right by. Or perhaps you overslept, which is always a possibility. These, in my eyes are reasonable excuses for tardiness. And, once you arrive, you subtly sneak into the room, praying that there is a seat open near the door. There are few things worse then having to walk in front of the room to find the open seat back in the most inaccessible corner. \nThen, there is the second variety, falling under the subheading: "Why even bother going at all?" We have all seen that guy who comes into class with only 10 minutes left. You can't help but stare at him with a certain sense of awe, wondering how he manages to justify his tardiness. Taking scholastic delinquency to a remarkable and heroic extreme, being this late to class is often the mark of someone who probably \nhas "No guts, no glory" plastered somewhere on his car.\nI guess my only request would be for all of those people, who have the time to take leisurely strolls to class: Be considerate, because "better late than never" only applies for about five to twenty minutes. After that, you're basically out of luck.