Students wearing pajamas to class in the US is something you’ve probably seen before. Whether they’re tucked into Ugg boots, underneath winter jackets or paired with a tank top, pajama pants are a staple of American college attire. But should they be?

Personally, it’s one of my biggest pet peeves. Sure, it may be comfortable, but come on! You can’t make the effort of throwing on a pair of jeans before you leave your room? If it’s a question of waking up, choose classes that are later in the day!

But hey, that’s just me. Many students seem to think that wearing pajamas to class is not a faux pas at all. Here are the pros and cons of donning your nightie to Biology 101:

Pros of Wearing Pajamas to Class

It’s comfortable. There’s a reason we sleep in pajamas — they’re comfortable! And who doesn’t want to be comfortable all the time? Wearing pajamas to class certainly takes care of that.

It’s convenient. How often do you get up early enough to take a shower, comb your hair, get dressed and eat breakfast all before heading out to that 9 AM class in the building on the opposite end of campus? Yeah, we thought so. If instead you want to wake up ten minutes before that early morning class starts, wearing pajamas to class is certainly convenient. You can practically roll right out of bed and into your lecture.

It’s accident proof. If you’re still waking up, you might not be terribly coordinated yet, and you’re more likely to be clumsy. So if you knock over your mug of coffee or drop your donut on your favorite sweater, you start the day off annoyed. But if you stain your pajamas, who cares? It’s a much less urgent trip to the laundromat.

It’s fashion? As much as I don’t want to say that wearing pajama pants to class in the US is a fashion statement, I guess it must be for some. But this begs the question — what exactly is the statement that you’re making? I’ll let you answer that one.

Cons of Wearing Pajamas to Class

It’s unprofessional. I’m not by any means saying that you should attend each of your classes like you’re dressing for a job interview, but simply that you should make an effort to look presentable. Your professor took the extra time to get ready for class in the morning — you should be paying him or her the same courtesy.

It screams: “I’m lazy!” Back to that fashion statement you were making. Ultimately the statement is none other than you’re too lazy and care too little about what you look like. While that might have been cool for a brief period in the ’90s, the edge has certainly worn off.

It suggests bad things about your hygiene. If you’re presumably wearing the same thing you were last night, you probably didn’t shower in the morning. Classy! And to touch on an earlier point, when was the last time you washed those coffee stained sweats?

It’s unattractive. If you’re trying to impress that cutie in your economics lecture, wearing pajamas to class is probably not the way to go. Think about it — would you want to date someone that appears to care so little about his or her appearance? What does that say about how much they care about other things in their life?

In a nutshell — unless you’ve got a horrible cold and can’t bring yourself to exert the energy it takes to put on some clothes (in which case you probably shouldn’t be leaving your bed to begin with), I think wearing pajamas to class is one heck of a faux pas!

But what do you think?