Don't Change Futuregames Opening Hours

Reasons Why Reduced Opening Hours Are Not In The Best Interest of Students

"Work-Life Balance" Is Not "School-Life Balance"
It is for many reasons both reasonable, and desirable, to strive for work-life balance when employed full time. We are however not employed by Futuregames - we are attending Futuregames for the chance to learn as much as we can, so that we may actually get hired after our education.

Limiting school hours limit each and every students ability to actively pursue learning. Given 2-3 self-study days per week, and that those days have neither a required timed for when students should be present, nor any other specified requirements attached to them, these limited opening hours work against students who actively work part time in order to finance their education, limiting their ability to even achieve the dedicated 40 hour per week expectation, as these students may work morning shifts in order to be able to visit school premises later during the day.

Furthermore, school in Sweden has never been associated with 8-hour work days, not even from the youngest ages attending elementary school. The fundamental expectation whilst attending any form of school is generally to attend class 8 hours every day, and then pursue school in the form of homework during evenings and weekends.

I reiterate - we are not employed by Futuregames. We attend Futuregames for studies.

Personal Responsibility
Each student attending Futuregames is ultimately responsible for their own progress in relation to studies, and keeping up with the intended curriculum. It should not be Futuregames perrogative to limit to which degree students pursue learning.

Personal Financial Investment
Many students attending Futuregames are not native to Sweden and thus pay a fee to attend the school. It would seem reasonable to allow not only them, but all students the possibility to utilize the school environment as much as possible per the opening hours that were initially set, if the students so wish.

Equipment
Each and every student is expected to pursue self-studies outside of regular class hours using software tools that are demanding to say the least when it comes to hardware. The decision to limit opening hours imply that the school is taking for granted that every student has access to this kind of equipment at home, which is required in many cases to complete assignments and largely impacts self-studies related to the usage of software that has high hardware spec requirements.

Crunch Culture
The games industry is notorious for utilizing crunch culture, exploiting individuals generally driven by passion.

We are not employed by Futuregames. We willingly pay, in some shape or form, for the opportunity to attend Futuregames, including the on-site premises in order to utilize the tools required for us to be able to pursue the learning activities the industry demands of us.

Noone Is Expecting You To Come In At 07 And Leave At 22
The fact that the school has had opening hours from 07.00-22.00 does not mean that there is a general expectation to attend school premises for 15 hours a day. Instead, the opening hours have allowed for flexibility in personal time management, the opportunity to utilize necessary hardware equipment, and a space to socialize and network amongst students.

If there have been instances where such demands in relation to physical attendance during all opening hours have been placed on an individual, surely this would be considered an outlier (and should be dealt with accordingly), but should not act as basis for reducing school opening hours.

A Moment of "Sink or Swim"
The labor market in general is in shambles. The IT-industry especially has taken a huge hit to it's stability in the last few years, and the games industry are seeing mass layoffs.

We as students have a chance to gain incredibly valuable knowledge sought after in the industry, and gain an edge on the abundance of competition present within the industry. Limiting our chances to get a foot in the door by pursuing knowledge outside of what may be considered regular office hours, labeling it as an attempt for work-life balance comes across as insincere towards students and their passion for learning.