Evanston Township High School - Key Yearbook (Evanston, IL)

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by Julie Schrager t is three o'clock in the morning, and you are trying very hard not to let your tired eyes close. On one side of you is a cup of coffee that has been refilled many times, and on your other side are pages and pages of U.S. History notes. Tomorrow is the biggest test of the quarter. Does this situation sound familiar? Most of us spend many evenings each quarter in this manner, because it is always convenient to leave our studying for tests until late the evening before. Even if we have begun studying earlier, we figure that a few more hours certainly can not hurt. After all, reviewing the dates of the Civil War battles once more will implant them more firmly in your brain, right? Well, you will probably remember the dates long enough to pass your test, but they won't stay with you much longer. According to one history teacher, Cramming is wonderful for passing tests, but the material will not be retained for long. Long-term studying is much better for actually learning the material. Students tend to agree with this opinion, but there never seems to be enough time to start studying early. There was an algebra test to study for three nights before the history test and a Spanish test to study for the following one. Of course there was the weekend, but there were so many good parties, and it would be crazy to devote your only free days of the week to studying. The results are evident, cramming is the most widespread method of studying. One sophomore summed up the situation, I try and try to plan ahead, but it never seems to work out. I am never able to avoid that late study session. Crornming for Exams 1 Burning Midnight Oil

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tuirimiimg IMliQ5iimi1'Qiin'ii Gill by Leslie Wilson urrounded by man-eating notecards, the typical junior student sits at his desk, staring bewilderedly at his stack of 3x5's. The shock ofjunior research papers has begun. Juniors are usually caught off guard by this assignment after breezing through their first semester of English. Then they are told to think of a topic they would like to write about. No problem, thinks Jr. l'll pick the history of the Chicago Bears, and it'll be a total blow-off. But the topic must meet the approval of the teacher, which means it should be an innovative, ingenius idea that has never before been turned in to his teacher. After negotiating his topic, Jr. must begin his research. lt is not advisable to leave the research until the night before, but Jr., being the egocentric procrastinator that he is, decides to forget about his 24 Burning Midnight Oil l paper for a while, since it's only 60921 of his quarter grade. As the dreaded notecard due date draws near, Jr. figures he ought to visit the library and maybe even check out a book or two. He turns in his six notecards with a few vague phrases scribbled on them, several full of information having nothing to do with his topic. Just for good measure, he slips in some blank cards, hoping to fool his teacher. For the first time in years, Jr. prays. He realizes now that this research paper won't be quite so simple. He sees that he won't be able to beat the system. Jr. begins to visit the library more and more often. He spends over twenty dollars on Xeroxing, stumbles around muttering call numbers and authors' names, and continually entangles himself in the microfilm. Finally, doomsday arrives. The night before the final paper is due, Jr. sits down at his typewriter and any , , . fww W W begins to measure out his margins. Two hours later he is still measuring out his margins. At eleven o'clock Jr. begins to type. By three o'clock he realizes that sleep will be impossible and makes an enormous pot of coffee. He finishes just in time to catch the seven-thirty bus and proofreads his paper on his way to school. Jr. notices that his footnotes aren't spaced properly, and that he has misspelled 32 words, 30 of them no excuse. Nevertheless, he trudges off to class, scribbles the corrections, and turns in his paper. The expected feeling of relief is nowhere to be found, and Jr. realizes that all he has learned is how not to write a research paper, Th Horror ofa junior Research Paper . - L' 5 '

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Deri0d 9 S, I nd th r unctuation by Sharon Hoffman t means five more minutes to sit in class. Fifteen less minutes to sit in the cafeteria or to go to McDonald's or to get your homework done. It means fifteen more minutes tacked on to the end of the day, and it means getting up fifteen minutes earlier in the morning. These changes are the result of the changeover from mods to periods that was enacted this year. In addition, class periods were made 45 minutes long, with honors science courses growing to 90 minutes. Supt, Ober requested the alteration because he believed students had too much freedom, and were not using it as,Wisely as possible. How do people cope with this major change from modular to period scheduling? The change wasn't very hard to get used to for most sophomores, because they had very little freedom as freshmen. However, many objected to study halls. One sophomore said, 'AI don't think it's fair to assume everyone won't use free time intelligently. I would, but I still have to go to study halls. Juniors and seniors as a rule were so relieved not to have to be in study halls that they didn't complain much about the extra time in class. However, one junior summed up a popular opinion by saying, Mr, Ober assumed with 45 minutes in class, teachers would give you 15 minutes to start on your homework, It didn't work out that way. Now they assume that since there is more time in class to go over it, more homework can be assigned. For freshmen the change wasn't very pronounced, unless they had older brothers and sisters, and had heard about the Good Old Days, By the end of the year, people had accustomed themselves to the new schedule. There are still B-days, although now each B-day period is 35 minutes. An innovation was the rare C-day. On a C-day, dismissal is still at 3:30, every period is shortened, but period 3 becomes IW hours. It was used for assemblies and communications, and while there was confusion at the beginning, it was successful. So, like everything else, the change from modular scheduling to periods is just a matter of getting used to. It seems to have harmed no one and has helped to keep the faculty and their computers busy. Small Change