University of Santa Clara - Redwood Yearbook (Santa Clara, CA)

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The sTudy game is a very complex and absTracT game: The besT way To undersTand The absTracT is To look aT iT in Terms of The concreTe. BuT whaT kind of game is school analogous To? A video game, maybe - Pacman or CenTipedes? No: schools may swallow money as fasT as one of Those machines, buT There are no seT paTTerns To look for ThaT make The game easy. Why noT chess? The moves are more mefhodical and challenging. BuT I feel ThaT The eIemenT of chance is missing in chess: There really is a loT of luck involved in The sTudy game. For, despiTe The genius of a sTudenT, an illness, a lousy lab parTner, or a lucky guess on a ScanTron TesT can greaTly influence The ouTcome of The game. ln chess, a move is rarely lucky. School is more like a game of billiards: iT is a combinaTion of boTh skill and chance. You can win wiTh a sTeady hand or slap shoTs. Some Teachers are like pool sharksg you sTarT The game confidenT ThaT you can win, buT he runs The Table. School is very good ThaT way, because, jusf like The sucker who geTs Taken for all he's worTh, one learns humiliTy in The discovery ThaT he is noT perfecf, or even as good as he would like To Think. WiTh each passing auarTer l become more adepT aT The game, for I discover my limlTaTions - I can'T do a Ten page Term paper in one nighf, nor can I cram a auarTer's worTh of chemisTry in a day before The final, and sTill expecf To llbeaT The mean. I learn from fellow players as well as from opponenTs. The Sfudy Game 21

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20 The Smdy Game s5h..., Q1

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As Time goes on, d ployer develops his skills. He develops Timing dnd rhyThm. The billidrd pldyer, if he is To be good, musT hove o smooTh even sTroke, for dll The cdlculus ond physics he knows ond uses To seT up d shoT won'T help wiThouT o smooTh sTroke. A sTudenT musT dlso hove Timingg he musT know when To sTudy ond when To ploy. And he musT hove rhyfhmg he musT know The difference befween sTudy ond ploy. The well skilled sTudenT dlso redlizes The need To relox, for one con overploy o shoT by spending Too much Time lining up ond Then Tense up ond choke. Finols con hove The some effecT5 you con sTudy ond sTudy unTil, wiTh The TesT in fronT of you, The moTeriol is jusT o medningless blur of words, numbers, ond didgroms. BuT you ledrn from The losses os well os The vicTories. 22 The Sfudy G-ome BuT hopefully There comes d poinT where confidence ond experience Tdkes The pldce of luck, ond The gdme becomes more fun. AT This poinT, The bdsics hove become second ndTure ond The finer poinfs of The gdme moy be refined: wiTh The diplomo in sighf, The Toil seems profifdble. The gdme is enjoyoble noT for whdT iT promises To be buT for whoT iT is: The chdllenge of The gdme becomes enjoyoble, insfedd of frusTroTing. This is when pldyers develop Their mosT voluoble ossefs - ThoT one Trick shoT They dlwoys like To use, The one They depend on. lnsfedd of dwelling on your wedknesses, you Tdke ddvonfoge of your sfrong poinTs. VicTory becomes eosier, ond The compeTiTion norrows. Sure, you sTill lose somefimes buT you ore growing, redching your poTenTiol. The gdme is beginning To poy off.