I’m an early riser, but not all people are. Some people are more awake in the afternoons, some people don’t really wake up until the evenings. So, how come all full-time education seems to start around 9am-10am?
I know that night school is a thing, but that’s really targeted at people who want to study over many years around their other commitments (e.g. a day job). I’m talking about full-time three- or four-year bachelor’s degrees and above (though exactly the same logic applies to all education really). Surely there’s enough demand for at least a couple of top-class full-time education establishments that don’t even open their doors until lunchtime?
I suspect the main reason is the inertia of the 9-5 that most of the world revolves around. You’d struggle to recruit staff to teach, techs to maintain buildings and stock required if they had to work permanently on late shifts.
Public transportation is catered and optimized for those working regular hours.
Apologies, but as someone who has never worked in an office, “regular hours” is a meaningless phrase.
I agree: a university is a workplace for a lot of people, and work is expected to take place during working hours, by definition in our society that means 9-5. I never even heard this discussion being brought up, honestly
However, there are universities (of applied sciences) offering programs for employed people, where the courses subsequently are in the evening.
Pretty much this. Most universities have a second and third shift but it’s usually reserved for janitorial departments and a skeleton crew maintenance. I used to be a night shift plumber for a university and we only had 3 plumbers and 3 electricians on site for the entire D1 state school campus. Most places opt for on call late at night. Really the infrastructure isn’t there for full tilt 24 hr educational support, much less maintenance and support staff.
I work in an academic library and we’re always worrying about evening and weekend coverage.
But the thing schools are trying to produce, educated young people, don’t fit in to the schedule. Most of them cannot wake up early.
Uhhh…the average new college student is fresh off of going to school before 9am for the previous 13 years
Universities are a stepping stone to teach students how to be independent adults so getting them used to normal working hours gently is a good thing. Most courses aren’t a solid 9-5 so there’s plenty of opportunity for a lay in at least some days (depending on the course)
Universities are also research institutions and that all runs on normal working hours, the lecturers are often researchers first and teaching staff second so fitting classes around the research makes sense.