College can be pretty daunting, especially if you don't have the skills necessary for survival. Being a college student in this day and age feels, I would assume, similar to being stranded on a desert island for four years, fighting every day just to survive and make it to the next day. However, there are certain skills college students can learn in order to make these four years slightly more bearable. One of the most important, and perhaps even the most important skill of all, is learning early on how to most successfully avoid getting called on in class.

There are a few things students must keep in mind when attempting to avoid a potential call-on. One strategy that will prove successful at least part of the time is simply avoiding eye contact. This is bound to work a lot of the time, but it will not necessarily always work. Another idea is simply staring at the professor, who will then either assume you are paying attention so there is no need call on you, or who will be somewhat creeped out by your intense staring, which should then result in the professor moving on to call on someone else, someone with a less intense stare.

Of course, the question remains of how to determine whether to avoid eye contact with your professor or to embrace it. The answer is, it depends. The best way to find out is through simple observation. You must observe your professor's call-on habits early in the semester, so that you have a basic understanding of how they choose their victims. This way, you can make sure to be prepared, knowing full well whether you should divert your gaze or not when the professor's dark, soulless eyes begin scanning the room for another victim.

Another solid option is ducking under your desk when the professor is about to call on someone. The best way to do this is to duck down and start rummaging through your backpack as soon as the professor starts looking for someone. It looks completely natural, and is a great way to divert attention from you. If the professor has the guts to still call on you even though you are looking under the table, then that professor is a disgrace to the entire world of higher education.

Another tactic that some seem to find useful is to actually do the required readings before class and pay attention to the professor's lecture, so you are then able to engage with the course material and therefore you are actually prepared to be called on, regardless of whether or not the professor actually calls on you. Of course, this proves difficult for many, especially less academically inclined students.

For the normal people and not the freaks that actually come to class prepared, it makes much more sense to use these methods as a way to avoid being called on. This is one of the most important lessons you will ever learn as a college student, and it is important to learn these habits early on so that you can continue to be a slacker throughout your college career. Also, you will have to get a real job someday, so you should develop the art of avoidance now, and that way you can transfer these skills into the workplace later on. You will someday need to know how to avoid your boss giving you extra work to do, so it is a good idea to learn as early as possible how to avoid responsibility.