By Ethan Tait
Name one of the most useless things this school has. Most of you might say My.CIS since not a lot of students use it. However, in my opinion, there is something even more useless than My.CIS (which parents do use), and it’s the various lockers located around the school. Now, to the eye of the ordinary student, they blend into the background, unnoticed. But I have a question for you; how many of you frequently use it? Yes, despite the fact that there are locks on several lockers, how many of you actually use them? Well, most of you might’ve said “Not me” (if you actually use the lockers, shoot a message to The Print detailing your experiences and add any objections to this article). This leads me to my point; we should get rid of the lockers.
Although the fantasy of using a locker like the all-American boy or the in-need-of-love damsel in a high school show sounds incredibly cool, that dream does not translate to our school for several reasons. Firstly, it would be a hassle to use the lockers regularly. For context, the school assigns lockers that are all the way at the other side of the school instead of lockers near students’ advisories (e.g. if someone has a Math advisory then they would most likely have a locker at the Chinese pod). Say, for example, that you were assigned a locker in the Math pod and you have PE next in the gym but you’re in the INS pod. Well, good luck getting your PE uniform in your locker and then getting to the gym within 5 minutes. The point is, it’s too far. Furthermore, it’s more convenient to bring your bag with you. Most students do it, making lockers redundant. You can also use bags to reserve a seat at your lunch table or bus and it’s not that heavy. In fact, the only time you probably ever use your locker is during exam periods because storing your bags in your advisory will create clutter for other students who don’t have exams.
Now, one might ask “What should we replace the lockers with?” and that, I have no idea. There could be more room for plants, seating, posters/flyers on the walls, or murals. Maybe it should be the school’s decision instead of the students’. Alternatively, why can’t the school assign us lockers near our advisory instead of halfway across the school, so that they don’t become a white elephant? I don’t know; the possibilities are infinite.
To conclude, whilst the idea of using a locker between lessons sounds cool, in reality, it would be very inconvenient to use it daily in our school’s context, since the lockers assigned to students are usually far from their advisory and carrying your backpack is more convenient.