Reconsidering Study Hall: UnderclassmenNeed Flexibility

At Deerfield, underclassmen can't follow the age-old rule that advises people to separate their place of work and rest. I attribute this unfortunate reality to the dorm study hall which all underclassmen are required to attend. My dorm room is usually last on the list of places I choose to spend my time outside of class, particularly study time. Deerfield’s campus is a greater view to enjoy than the four walls of my dorm room. My desk’s green plastic chair pales in comparison to the picturesque scenes from the patio chairs on the lawn. Deerfield’s library offers access to a breadth of knowledge incomparable to that of my dorm room. I have found that Deerfield's campus is a great place to focus and do work. The last hours of the day are an exception to productive work: study hall. For underclassmen, it takes place in dorm rooms from 7:45pm to 9:45pm. Study hall disallows the opportunities of failure and overcoming challenges because everyone is forced to work under the scrutinizing watch of teachers. Structure that is not offered by choice but force-fed to underclassmen does not help me learn to manage my time efficiently. It is no secret that Deerfield asks its students to exceed many expectations: social, athletic, academic, and many more. The common theme at Deerfield is that students are capable of success. In order to expand our abilities, we require time management skills, dedication, and mental fortitudes. I believe that study hall acts as a hindrance to the development of all of these healthy study habits. The two hours I spend in my dorm room are not unproductive, but they don't make me practice my ability to decide my own study habits. I believe that study hall is a handicap for underclassmen developing independence as we adapt to Deerfield’s rigorous academic environment. I believe that challenges are what inspire growth. Removing the challenge of managing time delays the process by which we learn to work productively despite the distractions around us. What is universal in this process, however, is failure. Failure begins in the first years of our lives. We fall for the first time, landing flat on our faces, and learn we must extend our arms. The next time we fall, we land on our hands. The pain of the fall prevents us from making the same mistake twice. Having a choice of where and how to undertake study hall gives students the choice of how to spend their time, which is crucial to the maturation of independence. This choice includes the freedom to fail with limited consequences, the chance to collaborate with peers, and the opportunity to adapt to the patterns of upperclassmen life before the stakes become too high. I also believe that a mandatory study hall is unproductive since we have to work in the space which we rest in. There is much scientific research that backs this concern. Each moment, an astounding amount of stimuli is being perceived by our brains. Some are more useful (like what’s on my French test tomorrow) and some are less so (like how I should make my bed). Yet all of this information is not simply stored into our long-term memory. The Cognitive Load Theory, proposed by John Sweller at the University of New South Wales, suggests that working memory has a limited capacity. In order for learning to be efficient, intrinsic load must be optimized while extraneous load is reduced. Intrinsic load is the active effort of working on the learning task, and extrinsic load is the distractions perceived. During study hall, I experience an intense extraneous cognitive load that is generated by the distractions from being in my room. I am not only thinking of my work, but whether my laundry has finished, when I will fold it, and if I should eat some of the snacks I have in my drawer. When outside, distractions of scenery and the environment are tools, rather than hindrances, for rigorous study sessions. The library is an even more tranquil resource, in which all outside distractions can be brought to a minimum. Extraneous load, conjured up by our wandering minds, can be minimized. The rigidity of the dorm study hall is not conducive to the development and synthesis of ideas. I believe that the freedom during study hall for underclassmen could easily be expanded to give everyone more room to practice their time management skills and less distractions from work. So why don’t we let underclassmen have the choice of where and how their study hall takes place? I think that it will do us a whole lot more benefit than harm.