by Anna Lin
Williamsville East High School has many defining characteristics, but one that certainly stands out are its walls or rather lack of walls.
Many fear that the lack of walls will distract from their learning while many are simply curious about how classrooms function without walls considering their integral part in a building’s structure.
I interviewed three freshmen whose memories of walls in classrooms are just as fresh as they are, and found their answers to be quite similar.
The general educated population grows up with walled in classrooms. It creates a sense of security, peace and concentration. They have doors to lock in case of a lockdown drill and barriers to block out any kind of sound that might come from external environments. In a school with walls, you and your class are isolated with your teacher and the lesson.
Two out of the three freshmen used to think having no walls was a problem. For one, distraction could be an issue. With no walls, you can hear other lessons, people strolling around and having conversations during their free period, and loud sounds such as toilets flushing and phones ringing. All this including your lesson muddled together. It sounds frightening, doesn’t it?
But now they realize that it isn’t so bad. Everything is pretty silent and although you can sometimes hear other lessons, it’s more of a background noise than a real distraction. Restrooms near classrooms are closed so it doesn’t take a student’s attention away from learning, and even ringing phones and small talk is blended in so that it’s more in the background – similar to a white noise. They’ve begun to notice that walls really don’t make a difference with the concentration and focus needed in order to learn.
In fact, it makes such a little difference that they actually feel themselves liking the lack of walls compared to classrooms with walls. It’s the concept of having an open environment instead of being shut in one room for eight hours. Not to mention the bonus of easier navigation – no walls mean you can actually look inside and see a classroom and what’s going on. room numbers also hang from the ceiling for easy spotting from the hallways – great for everyday exploration.
So in the end, I found out that not having walls really isn’t that big of a deal. It doesn’t deduct from our learning and it doesn’t make it harder to concentrate. No walls makes Williamsville East unique – and in a good, productive way.
