Have a seat

More on the beginning of a new semester.  While it's tempting to make new semester resolutions as one might at New Years, we know, that just like the new diet, the promise to get and stay ahead on your reading and assignments will fail within a few weeks.  Rather, here's something you can use: sit in the front of the class.

This is counter to two cherished seating preferences of students.  First, at least 80% of students, I'd guess, tend to sit in the same seat all the time.  While this makes it easier to learn names and hand back assignments, it is really a curious social practice.  Sometimes it's just a matter of sitting next to the cute girl/boy or a cheating partner/target, but usually it has something to do with psychological comfort.  I don't know exactly what that is, but it is always amusing to see what happens when another student sits in a student's "regular" seat.

The second cherished seating preference deals with "hiding" in the back of the room.  This probably provides another kind of security related to being under less scrutiny.  But here's the thing.  Instructors believe that lesser students sit in the back, and that the better students sit in the front, with the best often in the front row.  Sometimes those first row students are a pain, the "little sir question" that has to say or ask something about everything, or that works too hard at currying favor.  But in general, students up front get the best grades.

So if you want a better grade, sit in the front row, and you will immediately communicate a likelihood that you are bright, and almost certainly create an impression that you are interested, which is huge in catching a break come grading time.

The picture?  That's Bob "I must be in the front row" Uecker, also known as Mr. Baseball.  Going back a long way for that early Miller Lite ad.