Skipping Class to Ski
Winter is
coming…
With
winter season approaching, more and more students will be skiing. University of
Colorado Boulder students live in close proximity to the mountains. Easy access
and a love for skiing can be both beneficial and harmful.
Some
students will be skipping class or procrastinating homework to ski. Skiing can
negatively affect students’ academic focus and performance. However, as long as
students can keep up with their studies, it seems to be more beneficial than
harmful.
Students
ski for a variety of reasons. Some skiers enjoy the rush, the feeling of
flying, being outside, hanging out with friends, the community, or simply the
fun. Every skier has a different reason to ski.
Sean Fearon,
a CU Boulder junior and the president of the Backcountry Skiing club, said that
he likes to ski because “it’s a really fun way to get outside and enjoy the
mountains and it gives that adrenaline rush.”
Condor O’Brien, a CU Boulder May 2017 graduate and former
team officer and coach of the CU freeskiing team, said that he likes skiing
because “it was something that I could always get better at and create my own
goals with.”
A survey
distributed to CU Boulder students via Survey Monkey revealed that 32.3 percent
of students skip class to ski every season, but only 16.7 percent procrastinate
homework to ski and only 3.3 percent allow skiing to negatively affect their
academic performance. Although some students are skipping class and
procrastinating homework to ski, most of them still maintain their academics.
Dylan
Smith, a CU Boulder May 2017 graduate and former team officer of the CU
freeskiing team, said that “you’re also at college to have fun and have new
experiences and live your life,” while adding that she only skipped class to
ski when she felt she could maintain her grades.
When asked whether or not he skips class to ski,
Jacob Payne, a junior at CU Boulder, said “all the time.” He said that he
doesn’t allow skiing to harm his grades.
Numerous studies show that skipping class negatively
affects students’ testing scores, but these students claim that skipping class
doesn’t affect their academic performance. This is because students selectively
pick classes to skip. They skip the ones they feel they won’t be missing much in,
or ones that are easy for them. Generally, these students will not be skipping
classes that are important.
Many students who ski also develop better time management skills so that they can maintain their grades while frequently skiing. Sean Fearon said that he has come up with a system where he gets all of his schoolwork done during the week so that he can ski on the weekends. He believes that many other students involved with skiing have developed systems similar to his.
Another reason skiing doesn’t negatively impact these students’ grades is
because studies suggest that sports and physical activity lead higher brain
function. The article “The Link Between Sports and
Academic Performance,” on Florida National University’s website, says that the
regions of the brain associated with cognitive functioning are larger in volume
when students are physically active. Therefore, science suggests that skiing is
good for students’ brains.
November, 2017
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