It’s not a mortal sin, so this person on the web would say it would not require you to abstain – if you believe you should then you should though I’d say.
But may I offer a plan? It sounds like you are just like a reed swaying in the breeze right now… like you’re not really sinning you’re just letting things happen without your concerted direction toward the goals you’ve ostensibly chosen.
The plan is that you make a decision: one way I’d love to see, is to contact your teacher by email or after class or whatever, and make an appointment to talk in phone or better yet in person. So basically instead of going to the priest, you go to the teacher.
You say “dear teacher, do you have a time you can discuss my situation with this class? We both know I’ve been having problems.” Then make an appointment to discuss in person or at least on the telephone. Most teachers have office hours for this exact sort of thing. It can be done email, but I’m concerned that won’t faze you into doing anything differently.
And then you subject yourself to the teacher’s guidance. They may help you organize how you go about study and prioritizing what you work on if you have limited time. You may apologize and say, “I’m sorry I’ve missed class but I’d like to work on improving.” Any good teacher is triggered by a student who
wants to do better, and is willing to take special counsel from them. You can even convey your apparent confusion, “I would like to do better but I keep telling myself that and then I miss again. I would like to break out of that pattern.” Just tell them anything. You pay their salaries to help you, and if you let them know exactly where you are, then they are in the best position to do what they can.
It may seem like it takes a lot of courage and humility to reach out to a teacher, but if you do it, it may seem much easier after the fact, and could pay off big time.
I’ve been a teacher, and I’ve een a good student, and a lousy student, at different times in my life and unless you are so distressed you are just going to drop the class, working with the teacher one-on-one could completely change not only your outcome, but your enjoyment level in general with the class and even going to school. Academic stress can be very powerful, so just don’t let the stress control you.
After I flunked out once while working on my electrical engineering master’s, a few years later I took the last course I got an F (microprocessors), with the same teacher, and this time got an A. After class the first day, I told him that I had quit his class years ago, because I was intimidated by choosing a topic for class project. We ended up being pretty good friends, and he became my adviser.
It just may change your whole life experience with respect to education.
It may be scarier to face a teacher in the classroom or office, than a priest in the confessional, but the interactivity usually works out because just as when you are with a priest, when you are working with the teacher you have a common goal – your doing well.
Unless you have one of those really sadistic teachers who want to see student fail because they just have something against you. I’ve only had one teacher like that, ever, and that was in about 1971.
Or maybe two.
) told me at it was a “serious” sin, so I would say it might be a mortal sin.
But I’ve read enough of his stuff that at first I was interested in all the “head knowledge” but now I’m more interested in the mysticism and in Divine Transformation – of course with Divine Union as the goal. So writings like hers just seem more “rich” in the “touchy-feely” department (in the heart) which is where I think Jesus placed a lot of emphasis. 