The joys and woes of midterms

Midterms have finally arrived. For so long they have been only a vague threat to be dealt with "tomorrow," but now they have taken on full form and strength. Unused computer clusters are now swarming with students not checking email but feverishly typing up essays.

Professors have finally awakened the sound in-class sleepers with brisk announcements of "Midterm in one week. Review session two days prior. Past midterms have been posted on Blackboard."

Facts and formulas from the very first lectures can no longer peacefully rot away in the back of students' mind, but must be shoved up front along with all other information stemming from subsequent lectures.

Lately, as I have spent every waking hour of my life as a pathetic recluse, huddled away in a tiny corner of some library basement, I have come to question the effectiveness and meaning of this lifestyle. I, along with the rest of the student body, am heavily sleep deprived with dark, pulsing bags underneath my bloodshot eyes to serve as evidence. I no longer dine with friends in the dining halls, but scarf down Frist salads and sandwiches by myself, using one hand to maneuver the food into my mouth and the other to continue copying down vocabulary words. One might ask why anyone would ever choose to live such a dismal existence.

The answer is simple: Desperate times call for desperate measures, and midterms demand drastic actions.

But why do we spend eight hours straight drilling vocabulary words, definitions, and various sentence structures into our heads when the information is very likely to dissipate into thin air within a week of the exam?

Do we study for the sake of true enlightenment and learning, or do we study for the sake of achieving some GPA and/or nicely cushioned future job?

One of Rome's prominent intellectuals, Lucius Annaeus Seneca, pointed out, "Non vitae sed scholae discimus," whose translation reads, "We learn not for life but for school." At this point in life, I regard those words not as one man's cynical sentiments on education, but as an unblemished truth. Very few people in the real world willingly forgo most social contact and sleep to squeeze in more quality time with their physics textbook.

Some school administrators and instructors disagree with Seneca, claiming that no matter how useless a scholarly subject may appear to be, a student will inevitably take something away from that course. For instance, few music class students actually become professional musicians, but many will use their ability to differentiate between various musical and vocal tones well past their college years, sometimes to more accurately determine the mood of a job interviewee or boss, or sometimes to better appreciate exactly how the orchestra complements the movements of a ballerina.

Seneca's observation, however, does hold some truth. Ideally, students take classes to willingly edify their being and person. In reality, students often take certain classes only to fulfill a distribution requirement or enter an academic department and not for personal enjoyment. But while studying for those classes isn't necessarily done for the sake of learning but rather for the sake of passing, taking those classes can lead the way to other classes that can be taken as for both departmental requirements and pure satisfaction. Relishing every course you've ever taken with the utmost enthusiasm is far too idealistic and unrealistic of a goal.

But, at least understand that although studying for the course's midterm may be pure misery, the painful process will (hopefully) result in your overall future benefit, whether it be through developing organizational skills, nurturing a lifelong hobby, or simply increasing your tolerance and patience for pain. During midterms this week, I will inevitably grumble about how none of the information I am forcibly shoving into my head will ever benefit me, and angrily curse any man or woman who has made significant contributions to any scholarly field for bringing about my current state of wretchedness.

But perhaps when midterms are long over, and I have finally gained a somewhat better perspective on life, I will be able to see that maybe I didn't do it all for school, but did a bit of it just for me. >Anna Huang is a freshman from Westlake, Ohio. You can reach her at ajh@princeton.edu.