least attended class ever?

I’m still teaching a class: “Current Trends in Philosophy,” all 21st century material.

Tomorrow is the first day, and it’s an excellent candidate for the most poorly attended class session of my career. Why? Because it’s the only session of the class before Ramadan ends. And under the Ramadan class schedule, it moves from the 5:00-6:15 slot to an 8:00-9:00 slot that will look extremely unappealing given the remote location of the campus.

It would be heroic for students to go home for the Iftar meal at sunset, then come all the way back out to campus for an 8:00 PM class that they know will just be chit-chat and course rules and syllabus delivery like most first class sessions are. I’d throw a quiz, but it’s the first day and there’s nothing to quiz them about. And I can’t even take attendance, because it’s still drop/add period and the course roster remains in flux. So it goes.