Footloose and Fancy-Free: Kicking the Habit of Conventional Classroom Furniture

Abstract

As teachers, we often begin a lesson by urging students to up, get your feet out of the aisle and under your desk where they belong, and pay attention! Would we be sympathetic if one of those students had the temerity to respond, I can't. My human body was not designed for the contour and hardness of the furniture this school provides? No, indeed. Apparently we educators are far behind researchers in ergonomics-the study of the efficiency of people working with machines and technology in various physical environments. Have you seen the Ford and Honda advertisements that describe their ergonomically designed driver seats? The car industry has recognized that people who sit for any length of time in seats without appropriate back support find it difficult to concentrate. Does having appropriate back support suggest that people need to up? No; quite the reverse. It really suggests that many humans need to lean back in a relaxed, casual position-hard to do when one is required to listen intently, take notes, and write during most of an hour's lecture! Industry is providing softer, rounded cushions for secretaries who need to listen intently, concentrate on details, take notes, revise and correct them, and retain a great deal of what they are told. Schools do the reverse. They install wooden, steel, or plastic seats and desks and require that almost-seven-foot-tall basketball players and their barely five-foot classmates occupy the identical-size space at the identical height from the floor with the identical amount of distance from both the seat in front and the seat behind.