This is a linkpost for http://raginrayguns.tumblr.com/post/156656105652/recently-i-went-to-a-class-and-showed-up-late-i
Professors notice when you consistently arrive late to class. I have started closing the class door at the exact time my class starts to signal to students that lateness is something that does bother me.
Yeah. I mean, I'm not saying you should arrive late to class.
The way to work what you're saying into the framework is:
The cost of consistently arriving late is high
The cost (in minutes spent waiting for the class to start) of avoiding consistent lateness is less high
Therefore, you should pay this cost in minutes spent waiting
The point is to quantify the price, not to say you shouldn't pay it.
Tangentially related, I'm surprised that students misjudge how high the cost of being late is to the cost of arriving early. I have a suspicion that people who insist on being exactly one minute early and no more are made up of two groups, the very efficient and the best procrastinators that are often late and when on time they get to pat themselves on the back for being efficient.
Getting to class early just to sit in the front row is the easiest way to boost your grade for most classes, IMO as an armchair psychologist.
And if you're early, you can either talk to friends or read. I always try to show up at least ten minutes early to things and then use the extra time to do the reading I would have done at home later.