Article

Some students lose focus after Sept. 11

“I have been slacking in my classes since [September 11]. It’s just been hard to focus.” Edwin Burgos, University of Miami junior
Elizabeth Baier - The Miami Hurricane (U. Miami)

(U-WIRE) CORAL GABLES, Fla. – As University of Miami junior Edwin Burgos walked out of his linear circuits class at 10:45 a.m. on Sept. 11, a friend approached and asked him if he had heard about the two planes that had just crashed into the World Trade Center buildings.

In disbelief, he walked toward the unusually crowded UC and confirmed what his friend had just told him.

“At first I thought it was a joke,” said Burgos. “On a normal day the UC is filled with 20-25 people, but that day [Sept. 11] it was overflowing with students and extreme emotions.”

Although he wasn’t directly affected by the terrorist attacks, Burgos found it difficult to concentrate and maintain constructive academic habits since Sept. 11.

“I have been slacking in my classes since that day,” he added. “It’s just been hard to focus. Each week is a struggle to catch up with the work I’ve put aside.”

“For a while, these events take a toll on your well-being,” Burgos added.

Burgos was not alone.

Students everywhere found themselves in a stupor, looking out the windows of classrooms in a trance-like manner, instead of focusing on blackboards and textbooks.

For many, it became hard to concentrate and to maintain mental stability after last month’s terrorists attacks.

“It’s the first thing you hear in the morning when you wake up and the last thing you hear at night when you go to sleep, and we’re not used to living in such an disturbing atmosphere,” Burgos said.

Readings like George Orwell’s “1984” took on different meanings and even the familiar screensaver of flying windows became hard to look at.

For at least two weeks, they replaced reading Tolstoy and Hemingway with reading newspapers and watching television reports.

And although the Bush administration reiterated the new “get back to business, resume life as normal” dogma, many students found themselves putting their academic studies aside to keep up with the more prevailing lesson — the new war on terrorism.

“The Sept. 11 tragedies have diverted everyone’s time from what we normally do,” said geography of the Middle East professor Ira Sheskin. “It’s impossible not to spend time discussing these issues in class.”

Students whose grades have been affected by the recent distraction of terrorism, biological warfare or other related issues received academic alerts last week as the first half of the semester ended.

According to the Office of the Registrar, which issues the academic alerts, students receive these notices because of poor attendance, tardiness to class, poor test results, unpreparedness for class and careless assignments.

But nowhere on the alert does it include a reason code for diversion because of terrorism.

The Office of the Registrar declined to disclose the number of academic alerts they distributed this semester when asked by the Hurricane.

Because of a new electronic system used this semester, versus the previous paper system, not all professors knew to submit the alerts on time, according to Assistant Registrar Cynthia Koon.

“There’s no way of knowing exactly how many students received alerts,” said Koon. “And if there was a way of knowing how many students received them, there’s still no way to qualitatively proving that the Sept. 11 attacks affected grades.”