The bell rings, cueing upwards of 20 students to all try to cram themselves through a small doorway as fast as humanly possible. Feet are squashed, some elbows are thrown and this only marks the start of an almost impossible hunger-games-esque trek to next period’s class.

Once the students have left the relative safety of the classroom and have entered into the mobbed hallways, all hell breaks loose. People are shoved, or elbowed out of the way — feet get stepped on — backpacks take hits — personal space is unattainable and until you can make your way into a classroom it is a raging uphill battle against the endless streams of students all fighting to get to their respective classrooms.

Forcing students to fight through black Friday like conditions on there way to class is insane and unjust!  Students should not have to risk their personal space to get to class on time, it is an outrage! We need to find the root of this abominable situation, so we can help to provide students with at least a bearable walk to class.  

To find the root of all this horrible congestion, it is best to ask the battered, struggling students who face this problem everyday. Hopefully showing you (the reader) a student’s perspective will work to force any people who have not been persuaded — that hallway congestion is a huge problem to see the horrors of what students  must go through every day.

First students were asked about what exciting classrooms is like, and although it took some coaxing as this is very traumatizing subject we got a few responses. One student said, “Leaving a classroom is entering a war-zone. It’s every man for themselves…” showing the severity of the situation. Another student described it as a ‘free for all’ in which they had frequently gotten, “shoved over and multiple concussions.”

When asked about the even more horrific situation in the hallways students eyes glazed over as they had flashbacks to some of the worst experiences of their lives. “I dread coming to school every day” was the response of one student,  they could not be pressured to go into greater detail for sanity’s sake. Another student reported that it had given them, “PTSD, anxiety and ADHD.”

Students reported that the worst spots in the hallways were around the central staircase and between two classrooms when both required their students to wait outside before class. A helpful student suggested, “students… use non-central staircases to avoid traffic in usual areas.” While another helpful student suggested to “end school” because the problem has gotten so bad.

Finally it is worth a mention that students of a smaller stature face even more hardship and pain in the hallways. With one student complaining that they both, “get kicked in the head a lot,” and, are not able to even, “to see the walls.” With a consensus that the shorter you are the greater your health is at risk.

To pivot from that, looking at other school’s online newspapers I have surmised that the ischool is not the only school who faces this unbearable problem. School’s across the country like Shenendehowa HS, South Lakes HS and Winston Churchill high school. have also published articles about the colossal amounts of congestion in hallways. Yes (if you were to read their articles), you might point out that these schools have thousands more students and much stricter lateness policies, but this does not diminish what ischool students are forced to face every day.                                              

These article’s all had similar solutions their hallway problems. Most of the articles just asked students to take it upon themselves to adopt good hallway etiquette. They suggested always keeping to the right, not stopping in the middle of the hallway even if you are stopping to chat with friends and not ever resorting to shoving your way through the hordes of students.

While it would help if students followed these simple suggestions, they just are not enough. We at the iSchool need to take drastic action! We need students to use all five staircases available to them! We can not have people waiting to enter the classrooms on both sides of the hallway, as it leaves no room for people trying to walk through (and according to students were the spots with the most congestion)! Considering the trauma, pain and hardship this issue causes ischool students on a daily basis we must all do our best to make the hallways a safe less violent and less terrifying place.