the stentorian I ncssm
opinion
October 2005 5
Super Study, Quiet Hours create temporary inconvenience
BY Emma Htun
N ow that we’re several
weeks into the school
year, all of us have expe
rienced the lovely, wonderful
block of time called Super
Study. Isn’t it superb? Isn’t it
just divine that we get to sit
very nicely in a classroom full
of people we’d like to talk to and
do our homework quietly?
By now, most of you juniors
are debating whether to cart me
off to the nearest asylum I’m
sure. But luckily for my sanity,
my response to the lines above
is “*weirded out look*
.. .riiiiight...”
Students read and do homework in Super Study.
Super Study is definitely not
everyone’s cup of tea. This
nightly hour and a half of
forced work time is generally
not appreciated by the NCSSM
public. There are a variety of
complaints: it’s hard to focus for
90 minutes straight; you can’t
discuss work with your class
mates; and you can’t bring a
laptop so it’s impossible to do
webassign (which now days
makes up a good part of our
work load). Most of us. I’m
sure, feel a little like being let
out of a jail cell once the allot
ted time is up and we run off to
Happy Half or retire to our
rooms. “rmffeeeee,rmlfeee!!”
Likewise, seniors are under
going something similar to Su
per Study from 8:30-10:00,
though not quite as confining.
Study Hours are in affect for
this trimester, meaning we have
to sign out every time we want
to go off hall and we’re sup
posed to be in our room or m
the lounge studying.
Many find this a little ridicu
lous because after all, did we
seniors not prove our mettle in
the last two trimesters of last
year without Super Study? Was
it thought that we would forget
all our study skills over sum
mer? After actually getting into
NCSSM, I’m sure many of us
are a little offended that we’re
forced into a study hall, since
supposedly we’re here for our
good grades and (usually) de
cent study skills.
But of course, there is (sup
posedly) a reason for all this.
After the first couple weeks of
school, most of us have proba
bly Realized that the work load
is not too peachy. And I con
fess, I’m one of those freaky
anomalies who actually didn’t
mind Super Study my junior
year. I found, after the first cou
ple days of being bored to tears
and listening to my Mp3 player
that if I worked on my norne-
work instead of sulking, I could
actually get stuff done. Gasp,
shock, and amazement.
In reality, there are simple
ways to get around the troubles
of not having a laptop. If you
have an essay to do and you’re
at a loss for lack of laptop, write
out the rough draft. If you have
a webassign, try to print out the
webassign problems before
hand. A ftt of a waste of paper,
but it helps.
As for Study Hours...all I
can say is I guess we’re sup
posed to be trying to get back
into the swing of things after
our not-long-enough summer.
This is a minor annoyance and
at least we can still get out for
meetings and trips to the library.
You just can’t vacuum for
housekeeping or blare music.
So, the question is, how can
we make things more interest
ing? How can we “spice up”
our mandatory study time? An
anonymous source says “give
out food and drinks!”
Time management proves to be
valuable skill for NCSSM success
Balancing sleep, study, socializing, and sports
provides challenges in a busy environment
BY Stacy Kvit
A hype
wakes up in the morning,
realizing he almost over
slept. He quickly dresses up
and rushes to class (no time for
breakfast!). After Student X
survives through this class as
well as several others, he goes
back to his room, exhausted.
There, he just collapses on his
bed and takes a short nap or
browses the internet, deeply
irritated by Websense.
Around 6 pm he goes to dinner
and an hour later finally gets to
do some homework. According
to Murphy’s second law, it
takes much longer than he
thought it would, especially
when combining chemistry
problems with the latest epi
sode of his favorite show. Sud
denly, he realizes that it is 2 a.m.
and that he’s very tired, so with
a heavy head this poor student
drifts off to sleep. Next morn
ing, as you might foresee, he
wakes up at 7:55, and the vi
cious cycle starts all over.
You may or may not identify
yourself with Student X, but
unfortunately, many students
seem to have a similar daily
schedule (maybe not as bad,
though). I confess that his
daily routine is based on one
ofmy “worst days”. However,
as you might see later, I am
working on it!
NCSSM has a deep-rooted
reputation of being a “hard
school”, which might sound
equivalent to “academically
challenging”, especially for
starting-year juniors. Yet,
eventumly (perhaps after a cou
ple of all-nighters), they realize
that academics is not the core
concern. It is much more diffi
cult to balance those mandato
ry classes with something just
as essential- sleep and non-ac
ademic activities: sports, clubs,
etc. The old “words of wis
doms” declares that you get
only two out of three (sleep,
studies and socializing) and
students prove those words
countless times by dozing off
in class.
I would not call this wisdom,
but rather poor time manage
ment. Ideally, you get eight
hours of sleep, leaving you 14
hours of a conscious state.
About seven hours out of these
get eaten off by classes and
meals. Challenging school
homework plus tutorials would
require three more hours, leav
ing you four hours of spare
time. This is not much, of
course, but you can still fit ex
ercise and perhaps a club into
this time slot. Aminimum would
be an hour of w'orkout each day
plus going to “Happy Half’,
while you still will have more
than a hour left for going out to
9*’’ Street, solving differential
equations, breeding guppy fish,
or whatever your hobby might
be. So, theoretically, a balanced
day is possible.
In practice, it is not. In the
real world, time seems to move
in strange ways- it flies when
you IM with a friend, yet it
creeps when you’re in a class
or Super Study. You can try to
manage it, though, by down
loading a simple timer and limit
yourself to 30 minutes, for ex
ample, of IMing per seance.
Then let the timer buzz release
you from the cyber world. Also,
get a very good alarm, especial
ly if you tend to sleep soundly.
However, do not rely on alarm
to wake you up after four hours
of sleep- eventually you’ll get
so tired that even the cannon
fire will not disturb your nap. If
8 hours of sleep is something
completely impossible for you,
get at least seven—this will not
just boost your class perfor
mance, but also your alertness,
therefore decreasing your
drowsiness during classes. As
for a daily workout, you can at
least do a couple of warm-up
exercises each morning, which
will wake you up and give you
an additional boost of energy
to start the day.
Also, do not waste those ex
tra few hours you have each
day from a free block~if you
want a nap, take one, but per
haps do a little homework in
stead, so you will not have to
do it later. Or you can go to
lunch out down on 9* street to
reward yourself If it helps, each
day wnte a short plan of what
you plan to start, finish,
achieve, etc. At the end of the
day, check what you actually
had time to do, and if it wasn’t
everything you planned, ask
yourself “why?” Eventually,
time management will become
your habit, and a very good one.
You do not have to be a Super
Smart Student to balance the
three S’s— everybody has a po
tential to do it!
Global role for U.S. raises questions to
be explored within American society
project could result in an even
more threatening super-region
containing an army of battle-
hardened insurgents in Iraq and
a nuclear weapon-pursuing
Iran.
Is it possible that our lead
ers would guide us into a trap
that could demonstrate to the
world the limits of U.S. power?
If the Vietnam War is any indi
cator, then yes. However, there
is still the possibility that there
exists a wider strategic impor
tance for a U.S. presence in
Iraq. The “official” reason for
invasion may have been both
the elimination of threat and de
mocratization, but that does not
expunge the truth: that Iraq sits
at the heart of the world’s ener
gy resources, a region de
scribed by the State Department
in 1945 as “a stupendous source
of strategic power, and one of
the greatest material prizes in
world history.” In a world with
continually tightening oil mar
kets from the booming econo
mies of India and China, it sure
would be convenient for the
U.S. to have more influence over
the spigots to the black gold
that ftiels nearly every inch of
current global economic devel
opment.
The desire for greater influ
ence in the Middle East can be
further justified by the growing
competition from China. Of
course, the Chinese depend on
the U.S. economically just as
much as the U.S. does on them,
which is one reason why there
has been a limited amount of
conflict so far. This will not con
tinue forever, though. Indeed,
China and Russia, in an attempt
to take advantage of lagging
U.S. popularity and its position
in Iraq, continued their anti-he
gemonic alliance this summer
by conducting joint military
training operations and by re
questing that the U.S; abandon
its military bases in the Caspian
region. More recently, China
even deployed warships to in
timidate Japan into accepting
its proposal for natural gas min
ing in a disputed region. These
occurrences make it seem more
likely that the strategic signifi
cance of a military presence in
W
the Middle East was an impor
tant consid
eration to ra-
tionalize a
U.S. inva
sion.
The Unit
ed States will
face major chal
lenges in the
next few years.
Jim Hunt sug
gested this in his
convocation
speech, and
many indicators suggest the
same. Global warming, natural
disasters, terrorism, rogue
states, the depletion of oil re
sources, and the rise of the next
The reality is
that democratic
outcomes do
not always
ensure friendly
governments
superpower, China, will present
possibilities beyond most
Americans’ experiences. Our
generation nev
er went through
Vietnam, and
thus the inabili
ty to imagine
that the all-pow
erful United
States might
lose runs deep
er. Burst the
bubble, read the
news, and suc
ceed; the future
try depends on
it. To update and reinterpret
Benjamin Franklin: History has
given you an empire, if you will
keep it.
of this coun-
aa
s
stentorian
'wiis9iiiiwi mil
the north Carolina school of science & mathematics
1219 broad street, durham, nc 27705
stentorian@ncssm.eclu
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