Many will agree that students at Duke have engaged in serious discussions about what's going on at this school, all the while making sure that they spend an extreme amount of time and effort studying. But there also are those who have dedicated themselves to exploiting the college experience as much as they possibly can by engrossing themselves in, well, let's call them "less-than-academic endeavors."
But who's to say these activities aren't as, if not more, beneficial than hundreds of pages of reading, public policy memos and senior theses? In fact, they may be more practical than we (or our parents) think.
For me, college opened the world of video games. In high school I was never interested, even if I did have a younger brother and tons of male cousins. Upon my arrival at college I found myself surrounded by adult men sitting in front of televisions for hours playing Super Smash Brothers, Madden, Guitar Hero and Halo, just to name an elite few. They appeared to be enjoying themselves immensely, and soon I wanted to join in. (At least then they would pay more attention to me, right?)
Some of my female friends think video games are a waste of time, brain cells and energy, and while that may be true to some degree (come to think of it, they sometimes say the same thing about boys.) video gamers now have an extra excuse for why they should keep doing what they're doing.
In this month's issue of Archives of Surgery, a study shows that video games help surgeons gain skill in laparoscopic surgery, which doctors perform using instruments inside the body while they watch the action on a television screen. Thirty-three surgeons were chosen to play three video games and go through a series of skill-measuring tasks. Of course, some of these surgeons were gamers, and the results of the study came out greatly in their favor. Those who played more than three hours a week made 37 percent fewer errors and completed the tasks at a 27 percent faster rate than those who had never played at all.
Thus, aside from a few technicalities (such as if your days start to blend together because you can't put the controller down), video games have proven to be somewhat useful. Apparently, they may end up making you a much better surgeon.
As for those of us who don't actually want to be surgeons, there are other things we can do outside the classroom to make sure we have some background once we get into the real world.
Your friend who always seems to get calls from her parents on Saturday night? And they always think she's in her room studying Mandarin because she manages, with remarkable ease and confidence, to convince them she's cracking the books? She may actually graduate to realize her true passion is to become an actress.
If you know someone successfully juggling more than one girl (or guy), you may want to suggest that they explore the field of banking and/or stock marketing. After all, both fields do involve organization and mendacity.
Sure, these seem like pretty frivolous examples, but everyone agrees that college is the time to discover your strengths. And nobody demands that they be unearthed in the classroom. I say we reevaluate where we assume our raw talents and hidden career skills exist and start digging.
Future surgeons, start playing some serious Halo.
Keesha Brown is a Trinity sophomore. Her column runs every other Thursday.
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