Across the country, most students can agree that school is probably one of their least favorite places to be. Though school isn’t my least favorite place, I can state without hesitation that school has caused me to have constant thoughts of smashing my face into a wall -- repeatedly. These thoughts caused me to wonder why school has this strong negative impact on my life and what should change about school to make it more enjoyable (or just bearable). I asked around to my peers what they would change about school to find out their opinions on what would make their experience at school better. 
When asking classmates about one thing they would change about school, I received many answers that varied from the smell of the hallways to how teachers handled the workload given to students. The first classmate I asked, Shaily, stated that she would like the smell of the hallways in school to be improved. She claimed that the hallways constantly smell like the bathroom, and walking in the hallways is an everyday battle against the smell of “human waste.” The second classmate, Ashley, said “Scheduling should be improved by becoming more like college schedules and offer a wider variety of classes.” Finally, the last classmate I interviewed, Neha, said “When there is a day off of school, it is not an invitation for teachers to give ten extra assignments to students.”
After hearing several of my classmates’ thoughts on what they would change about school, I personally agreed with every single person. When walking in the hallways, there is always one place where it smells so bad, and it makes me feel that the school is just one big bathroom without any cleaning. Secondly, when Ashley said that scheduling should be like colleges, I agreed quickly because of my own personal struggles with scheduling. My schedule is so crammed that it only lets me have one period open for electives, which significantly cuts down any possibility of doing all the electives I want to take. This made me upset, and even though I felt like it wasn’t fair, there was nothing I could do because that is how scheduling works in our school. Finally, Neha’s statement about teachers giving ten extra assignments when there is a day off was the realest thing that I can (sadly) support with evidence in current classes right now! Yes, ten extra assignments is an exaggeration, but it might as well be the same thing with the amount of stress and pressure it gives students when teachers give assignments piled on top of more assignments, not to mention the constant studying for quizzes and tests every week. These statements made by those I interviewed all were great changes that could definitely improve the school experience and also were great examples why I feel the urge to smash my face in the wall!
By Allison Y.
Editor’s note: The smell situation has been looked into and resolved.