Opinions Editor Jonathan Saucedo is a two-year member of the Wildcat Chronicle who frequently writes opinion pieces. The views expressed in this piece are his own.

Chairs are, arguably, one of the most important pieces of furniture when creating a fulfilling experience in any type of office-like workplace, including high schools. If the right chair is not found, students are led down the wrong path of despair and sorrow. These “wrong” chairs might creak, wobble, or snap, and can be the sole reason behind teen back problems.

In the English section of WEGO, there seems to be an epidemic of harmful chairs. One might go so far as to claim these are the worst chairs in the school. The ugly, blue, short chair cannot even do the job right: giving the consumer a place to rest comfortably while they get done with their stressful school work.

The chair’s design is a huge problem for those wanting to sit. In this case, the chair’s back is a little too far from the base of the seat, forcing students to bring their whole body backwards just to rest. But, the chair cannot even do something as simple as providing respite. The chairs in the English department are uncomfortable, and regardless of whether one’s back does or does not even touch the chair, the overall experience provided is hardly great.

“My lower back, specifically, starts to ache after class. I hate going to English class because of it. I wish the teacher would give me his big comfy chair so I can finally focus on my work instead of worrying about having scoliosis in the future when I become an adult,” junior Oscar Felipe Acosta said.

Not to mention that these chairs are always snapping from the slightest movement, such as when a student cracks and/or stretches out the spine. These days, it is not even a surprise to students when they hear the snap of the chair, as so many have broken this year. 

“Unfortunately, as we have seen in the English and Math departments, these chairs are prone to break. Each summer we order additional 4-leg classroom chairs from HON to replace the broken chairs. This summer we plan to order over 100 of these HON chairs. The HON chairs have a lifetime warranty and HON will replace for free if they break,” Director of Business Services Dan Oberg said.

The chairs that were originally purchased for the classrooms were from Alumni Educational Solutions, but those have proven to be insufficient in the classrooms causing the school to switch to HON.

“I can’t say how many chairs have broken in the Math or English Departments this year, I just know that we need to replace those chairs with better quality chairs, which we are working on each summer,” Oberg said via email.

Some people do not see the chairs as an issue. Perhaps they have not experienced a broken chair this year, or perhaps they have newer models in their classroom.

“Those are pretty indestructible, dude. I don’t think they will break or can even break,” Steve Aiello, an English teacher, said.

Yet the proof is in the photos – even with seemingly unbreakable material like that of plastic or resin. In the journalism classroom alone, more than four chairs have broken this year.

It seems very reasonable to call for a change in chair design and materials, and it sounds like Business Services is making strides to do so. While it is unclear how many of these chairs fall victim to breakage each year, the fact remains that they are uncomfortable.

Now, considering the laundry list of tasks the school is hoping to complete this summer, it is doubtful that all the chairs will have some sort of glow-up in the coming months, but it certainly sounds like they are being phased out over time, and for good reason: the chairs are absolute garbage: the sitting position hurts the back, they feel uncomfortable, look ugly, and overall are just a 1/10. Believe it or not, the bleachers are just as bad. The pain usually kicks in when one is forced to sit on the bleachers by their gym teachers; it seems a lot more reasonable to just stand up instead.

Money allowing, WEGO should most definitely continue to replace these unfortunate chairs, and invest in better and higher quality materials to ensure that students can sit and work comfortably.

Revision 

April 16

The article was updated after it was discovered that Dan Oberg, Director of Business Service was quoted incorrectly.