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Lockers are typically seen as a sign of students who are overly stressed out, a place to keep our school books, and a place for us to hang out and catch up with friends. The pressure of having to remember the combination and number of turns needed to enter a locker is something that all students have experienced. However, nowadays most students have no access to lockers, let alone know how to get into them or know where their locker is. The break between classes lasts four minutes. Students will rather bring their school materials home and back every day, which can also reduce the risk of forgetting homework at home. Instead of using a locker, students would prefer to lug around a bulky backpack.
Some students from EHHS give their thoughts on the use of lockers. I asked students if there was a way to change students' minds about using the lockers and senior Saida Pabon said, “ No if people wanted to use it they would, but since they see other students not using them, I feel like that’s why they don’t want to use it.” Students are often seen doing the same thing as everyone else. One student doesn't want to feel left out and be the only one using a locker, so they rather do what they perspect other students doing every day. Students from EHHS were also asked if they had more time in between classes, would they use their lockers. “Yeah definitely, but since we don’t even get to class on time, it’s hard to go to our lockers and make time for it,” said Senior Giana Ruiz. Some classes go from one end of the school to the other end of the school, and it takes time to get there because of the traffic. Students end up being late if they can not beat that traffic, and it would not make sense to stop by a locker if they are late to class already.
Transitioning from a smaller school, the smaller school being a middle school, the use of lockers there is more regularly used. Middle schools are smaller, the classes are near each other, and the traffic of students in the hallways is less. So it makes sense to stop by your locker if you’re in middle school. Transitioning to a bigger school with more people, could be very different and take time to get used to. Students get excited when it comes to decorating their lockers when in middle school. So when students don’t use their lockers in high school, would it make a difference if they had known that they could decorate their lockers. “I feel like if students knew about being able to decorate the lockers, they would use it more often because it’ll get them excited to buy things for their locker,” said senior Diya Patel. The use of lockers can change if students knew what they can do with them.
Lockers are everywhere in schools, students walk past them every minute of the day. The reason behind not using them could be because students don’t see other students using them, they rather carry their heavy backpacks all day, or they might not even know where their locker is. Whatever it is, the lockers are always there for when students want to use them and they can always ask teachers where their locker is.
