Studying the same subject for five hours, FIVE HOURS, will probably make you go insane. And yes this is what has happened to me...well figuratively...You see, my school - turned college - has enforced this new rule, that ALL Sixth Formers (If you don't know what that is, it's a term we use in England, to describe those who are taking a certain type of exam, namely A Levels, which may or may not be due for a change, if the government decide to return to O Levels) must come into school everyday, during their free periods, and remain in a room where you will be supervised to study. That means that the time I could be sleeping in bed, catching my necessary 7/8 hours of sleep, I must spend wasting away in a room full of noisy, if not LOUD, students, who I don't know. And to top it off, I had a whole day, which I could have dedicated to myself, and relax a bit, spent up in this same room, for FIVE WHOLE HOURS. That day was today, and every Friday since the beginning of the academic year, which was in September.
Now I know I may be exaggerating a bit, and yes I will only have a few more weeks to go, since this rule ends after the Half Term, but I've learned with this experience that these "study sessions" will get me nowhere, since I still will have the urge to procrastinate, and not do any studying whatsoever, during this time. I know what you're thinking, "but you just said that you spent five hours studying today, surely you haven't gone insane?" Well yes, and no. You see, during the day we have two breaks: one is a 20 minute in the morning, to "give the students a break" and the other is the Lunch break, whereby students only have 40 minutes for lunch.
Talking about these breaks, fair enough we have a "break" but that is just a poor excuse for students to do their homework, and chat, but do they really have enough time to chat! Most of their chatting is done DURING THE LESSON! I know because of my experiences during "lower" school, half the class is talking throughout the whole lesson, and most of the time it's NOT EVEN ABOUT THE TOPIC OF THE LESSON! Usually it's something along the lines of "Oh my god! I have nothing to wear tomorrow, you know since George is takin' me out!" or other, and when the teacher calls out to them and asks, "What are you talking about?" the same students reply, "Uh, she was just aksing me (yes AKSING not ASKING) what we're meant to be doin'" and usually this is ended with, a "well if you don't know then ask, but don't start talking again." and the teacher goes back to teaching, and the students go back to talking. Is it just me or is something wrong here? Is this situation, the same all over the world, because in my opinion, there is a lack of communication. Where once students relied on the teacher, and wasn't afraid to answer or ask a question, now this situation is completely extinct.
Next is "Lunch break" where students have a longer time to talk, and socialize as well as eat. This break, in my school is only 40 minutes.
Yes 40 short minutes. Isn't it scientifically proven, before doing some sort of activity, the food must digest for one full hour? Of course this is referred to the physical activity, but still, there should be a longer time. I can vouch for this reason because my school does what's known as a "Consortium", whereby students from other schools come to my school to study a subject that they chose to learn here, and vice-versa, and all those unlucky students who have had a lesson, need to travel from their school to ours, and well, it isn't a very short journey. For them the lunch is about 20 minutes long. That isn't enough to buy food, eat it, and then wait for England's public transport to arrive and take them to the lesson. Not to mention, that they have to sign in before arriving to the lesson, making them about 30 to 45 minutes late to the lesson. Something really is wrong here.
Now back to the original situation at hand, the unnecessary trek to school for a whole free day to study. While the principle of this is very simple and straightforward, I'm afraid the workings of it is much complex. You see, there are some of us that may prefer those conditions, and if that works for them, then they can do this whole system for the rest of the year. However there are some of us who wish to study in the comfort of our own homes, and in a more comfortable environment. Imagine having to sit down on a plastic chair at a desk, which isn't big enough to hold all the necessary books and equipment you may need to study, and having to sit there for two hours max, have a break then another hour, then lunch, and then another two hours before you can go home. Now you see how this can make you go mad, or exhausted, if you've had to wake up at 6am, to get to school at 8.40am. Yes I have to get up two and a half hours early because of the fact that I live at least half an hour away from my school by car - by bus it's probably 1 hour or an hour and a half.
Anyway, this scheme just wouldn't work. Although the idea is simple and should work, it is naive and screams "PARANOIA" (due to the rapid fall in grades over the past years). If they want to be known as a better institute, they shouldn't complain that the students are the ones at fault, because we do the work, and we do revise when it comes down to it, but they should get BETTER TEACHING STAFF, or change the curriculum for the subjects they are teaching, because frankly, they aren't the best: they are too hard, and whilst these syllabuses may be good for some high-achieving schools, it isn't good for this one. It may be a high-achieving school, but the students that arrive on their doorstep for an education, aren't cut out for this type of learning.
Therefore I leave you with this rant, to interpret it what you will. In the meantime I will return to studying the subject that I was studying today, since my exam is in January, and frankly I feel very behind, and unprepared, so I leave you with this question..."How many legs does an octopus have?" (John Lloyd and John Mitchinson - QI: The discreetly plumper second book of general ignorance)
