By Sonali Vardhan
Before I started going to East, I frequently heard of the no door system they had adopted. Admittedly I thought it would be a defiance of my ability to focus in class and effort to concentrate on anything I would be doing. However, as I expressed my concerns to upperclassmen, they assured me I would soon grow used to it and wouldn’t even notice the chatter next door. Honestly, I didn’t believe them and saw it as less than pragmatic than anything. My mind continued to hold the stress that concentration would be an issue. Nevertheless, I quickly learned what they said to be true, and even grasped a few other discoveries of my own.
Listening to music has been a habit of many while studying or indulging in an activity that requires concentration. On the surface, music seems more than a distraction than a focusing method, but the science behind it says otherwise.
Neuroscientists from Sage Journals share the idea of a two focus system. Our brains have two sides, one that helps us focus on conscious things, and one that focuses on unconscious things, such as background noise or other unwanted distractions. With the music being at the back of our minds taking the area of the background noises, it trains our brains to gradually ignore the distractions around us. Our brains will get absorbed in the pleasant tunes it trains us to ignore any unwanted noises when we are partaking in the same activities even when we are not listening to music.
However, studies also show the sounds we hear in the back of our heads do not have to be pleasant. It is about really just having a constant distraction. Since I can hear the classroom next to me almost every time I am there, I learn to dismiss their chatter over just a few weeks. At first, the bowling balls dropping on third floor physics used to make me jump every time I would be sitting in bio, but now I barely notice the thuds coming from the ceiling.
Overall, I feel my concentration has gone up, and focusing in school and at home studying has become easier and more natural.
East being a no door school has had an overall constructive impact, and it would be wise for schools built in the future to follow by example for the overall advantage it has on their students.
