Hallway Traffic

       

           Now I don’t know about you, but I really can’t stand it when I’m on my little ole way to class and BAM, right smack into the body that decided to stop and chit-chat right in the middle of the hall.  Each and every student here at Lake Hamilton has things to do and places to be. They don’t need to be stuck behind giggling girls and rambunctious boys.

            The five minutes between classes is supposed to be used for getting from one class to another, not for chit-chattin’ in the hallway. Maybe a student had to come all the way from the Jr. High, such as Mrs. LiMandre’s Spanish class, and head all the way to Mrs. Estes’ chemistry class, how do you suppose they’re going to make it in time with all the people gossiping about who’s dating who, standing around and blocking the hallways? Now I do confess to being guilty of walking around the halls multiple times during those five minutes, but I don’t stop and block everyone’s way.

            Eventually, I think, the school should start making traffic lines on the hallway floors so we can have a clean shot to class. Along with the lines, maybe there should be hall monitors to keep the crowds broken up, I know, I know, hall monitors, yuck. Monitors could do wonders for our school and getting to class on time, though. If this still fails to work then administrators just might need to think about narrowing down the time from five minutes to, say, three. Taylor Duke, a senior here at LH said with a mischievous smile, “I want to hit them with my books and then say sorry, didn’t see you there. I was just trying to get to class and NOT be tardy,” when asked what she thinks when stuck behind the chattering students. Now just because you would like to stop and tell your friend something that just cannot wait ‘til after school, you could at least be kind enough to stay out of other people’s way. Another student said, “Oh don’t get me started, it’s ridiculous, even for people as small as me I still have to fight my way through [the crowds].” The students that are on the smaller side, quite like myself, could get really hurt in these halls, an elbow to the face or a bump that could make us fall to the ground where we would then be trampled. Each year this problem becomes more pronounced as LH gains more and more students.

            I talked to two sophomores that tend to stop and chat in between classes, when asked why she feels the need to talk to her friends in the hall, Lexi Fairris said “Because some people don’t want to wait ‘til the end of school, they want to talk to their friends then and there.” Another sophomore stated, “It’s just fun to piss them [people trying to get past] off.” Why should students get counted tardy just because you kept them from getting to their destination? Sure, some teachers are more lenient about tardies in cases such as these, but some may not be. Three tardies result in a Saturday school and a Saturday school means no prom for juniors or seniors, maybe even some sophomores; I know that I sure as heck don’t want to miss prom because someone blocked me from getting to class.

            Just because you may not care about tardies, Saturday school, or not going to prom doesn’t mean the rest of the school doesn’t care either. So, be the kind person that I know you are and don’t clog up the hallways like five o’clock rush hour.

-Nikki Haak