Once upon a time, there was a girl who just wanted to sit comfortably for eight hours. Her wish was denied.
The seating arrangements at North are atrocious. Gone are the days of yoga balls and bean-bag chairs. Now, all we have is 12 inches of plastic, which might as well be coated in syrup with how dirty they are.
The worst seats are the chemistry and biology lab stools. It’s basically a guarantee that your stool will wobble even if you can’t figure out why. They’re loud. God forbid you try to pick up your pencil, let alone scoot closer to your friend, because your stool will let the entire classroom know. There’s barely any back support–in fact, there’s no back at all.
You can’t comfortably put your feet anywhere. If you put your feet on the ground, you’ll slip off the stool. If you put them on the stool, your knees will be crushed by the table in front of you, which is a whole other issue. There’s nowhere to put your legs in a science classroom unless you sit in front of the sink at the very first table. That single person is infinitely lucky.
The desk/chair combo is slightly better. At least sometimes, you’ll be graced with a basket to put your feet on. However, the lack of mobility is disappointing. You’re forever stuck at the same distance from the desk. It’s nearly impossible to put your head down without disturbing the person in front of you. One good thing about these desks is that they make for an organized classroom.
The least bad seating arrangement is the purple chairs paired with the trapezoid desks. The chairs have backs, are flexible and are slightly bigger! While there’s no place to put your feet, the chairs are movable, which is a great improvement. Mylaina Earnhardt, a junior, adds, “You have to sit up straight and perfect.” She explains how she can’t put her feet up on another chair or anything else.
The one issue is the desks. They’re an awkward shape that makes it difficult to have anything out other than a sheet of paper. “I feel like I have less room on the trapezoid desks because I don’t have right angles,” Earnhardt adds. Additionally, they’re unstable at best. They tip over too easily and slide across the floor.
By far, the worst seating arrangement is the stools. Then, the desk/chair combo is better, and the purple chairs are the best. However, the seats still need to be improved. Students have to sit at a desk for eight hours and are expected to be able to focus on their work for up to an hour and a half at a time. This doesn’t include longer periods, like ACT and SAT testing, which happen in classrooms, too.
Junior Mitchell Boyd comments, “The stools are uncomfortable and distract me from learning.” A student’s comfort should be more of a priority, especially when so much pressure is placed on them to learn.
