Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Stand-Up Desks in Schools

On the front page of today’s New York Times is an article called “They Stand When Called Upon, and When Not.” The article describes something I’ve never even heard of: adjustable desks that allow you to sit or stand as you please. These desks are now being made for children and used in a few elementary and middle schools in Minnesota and Wisconsin as an experiment. The kids can stand, sit on a stool, swing their feet on a swinging foot rest, and wiggle all they want during class. The responses from teachers are very positive so far and there is hope that this idea may help kids with obesity and concentration in classrooms.

I really enjoyed reading this article and thought it was very interesting. I’ve personally never even thought to question the idea of sitting in classrooms; it always seemed to simply be “the way things are.” Reading this article reminded me that it’s never good to accept life as we know it and that we should think critically and outside of the box as often as possible.

I also really liked the beginning of the story, which began with a rather lengthy anecdote that I think worked for this feature-like article. The lede begins with a paragraph describing the sixth-grade classroom that the story revolves around and then describes the experiment with the new desks. Right after the lede, the story eases into the quite fascinating subject by detailing the specific sitting/standing preferences of a few different students. I liked how this article was written in a way that brought me back into these classrooms.

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