moved a couple things around to make the expectations a bit more readable

Idea # 2

# in the spec
it 'should cycle in either direction blah blah blah' do
  # a better way is to set up contexts for each direction you want to cycle 
  # and test the crap out of it that way but you get the idea, no?
  [next, prev].each do |direction|
    expect(students_cycle_correctly? cycle_list(direction)).to be true
  end
end

# in the helper
def cycle_list(direction)
  current_index =
    @students.index(@students.find { |l| l.name == f(selectedStudent).text })
  f(direction).click

  direction
end

def list_cycles_correctly?(&block) 
  given_direction = block.call
  check(given_direction)
end

def check(direction)
  comparison_index = direction =~ /next/ ? -1 : 1
  studentXofXstring = "Student #{new_index + 1} of #{@students.length}"

  f(selectedStudent).text.include?(@students[comparison_index].name) &&
    f(studentXofXlabel).text.include?(studentXofXstring)
end