Marie EspenidoHuffpost College released an article about a 24-hour, quiet, study room enclosed with glass on three sides and dubbed “The Fishbowl” at Wesleyan University. The article says that students who choose to study here are “put[ting] their all-nighters on display,” allowing for bragging rights on their sleep-deprived, coffee-induced, late-night procrastination turned cram sessions.
The University of Alberta’a Alumni Room in SUB is rather Fishbowlesque, but I don’t think that students are consciously “acting out a long-form performance art piece on exhaustion” as much as they are simply trying to be prepared for tomorrow’s test.
The article assumes a few things. First, that students walking past The Fishbowl are filled with anxiety as they see these hard-working students and conclude that they’re more intelligent because they’re studying through the night. Second, that the students behind the glass wall are proud and satisfied that people walking by feel that way. And third, that the people who stay up all night to study are doing so because they procrastinated for so long that they now have no choice but to sacrifice their beauty sleep.
First of all, I’m not sure about Wesleyan University, but the Alumni Room at the U of A is one of the few silent rooms on campus open 24-hours. Perhaps some people study better at school and away from their music-blasting roommates. And perhaps people are “choosing” to put themselves on display in the The Fishbowl, or the Alumni Room, because they really don’t have any other options.
When I walk past the Alumni Room in SUB, I see people studying. I don’t get anxious, and I don’t automatically assume they’re smarter. I assume that this spot works for them because it is close to their classes or close to Stadium car park, or they simply like the spot.
I have studied in the Alumni Room only a handful of times, and to be honest, I don’t like it. Primarily because the glass walls, or rather what is on the other side of them, are distracting to me: people walking by are distracting, the gradual shift from daylight to night is distracting. But fifth-year Psychology student Marina lives for that room. For her, the location is great because it’s close to coffee and food, the room has couches if you need a quick nap, there are several outlets, and the glass walls bring in light and create a sense of openness. This last point I can definitely get behind. It’s why I’d sooner study in ECHA (even though it’s far from “my side” of campus) with its bright colours, open concept, and huge windows rather than a brick, windowless, prison-like seminar room in Education.
Lastly, I don’t think it’s fair to assume that people studying through the night are doing so because they’re all procrastinators. People may have full days of classes, or work, and their only free time is during the night. Other people work better at night. And some people, as Marina mentions, “study overnight out of fear — fear of not completing an assignment (to the best of their abilities), or not doing well on a test,” not solely because they left their work to the last minute.
