Lockers in school

[teachermom2834]

If your kids are in school do they have access to a locker? Do they use it?

My dd goes to a small high school and has a locker that she will keep all four years. So she only needs to learn the combination one time and she is good. She was homeschooled before high school and being able to open a combination lock was something we practiced.

I am dumbfounded by how many of her smart and competent peers have forfeited locker use because they can’t open the lock and don’t want to ask for help or learn. Some have actual malfunctioning lockers that get stuck but they could ask and be reassigned another one or have it fixed. Others just think opening a lock is too hard. They just resign themselves to carrying their stuff all the time. These kids do have some books though not for every class. They also carry duffel bags with clothes to change for after school activities. They probably just don’t wear a coat most days rather than worry about carrying it. It’s not usually too cold to run into the school without a coat. 
 

If it was my dd it would drive me nuts that she didn’t use her locker she had access to. She uses hers all the time and it is useful. I would be very frustrated if she wouldn’t just learn the combination or ask for help. I’m pretty sure I would demand she learn to use it or I would march into school and teach her in embarrassing fashion. But I realize I am an old school hard mom about some things.

I thought it was just one little friend with anxiety she had that wouldn’t learn to use her locker but through driving lots of kids around and listening in I realized some of the most stellar kids in the 10th grade at this private school won’t learn to use their lockers. For the record it is a tiny school and they are not too far away from their classes. 
 

In the nineties the biggest burnouts in the school could manage their lockers. Lol. Thoughts?

 

[Katy]

I thought the skill of opening those locks was something everyone practiced with their kids? 

[teachermom2834]

3 minutes ago, Katy said:

I thought the skill of opening those locks was something everyone practiced with their kids? 

You would think! When we were at the open house and speaking with the guidance counselor about transitioning from homeschooling the counselor offered to let dd come in over the summer to wander around the empty school and master her locker before the first day. We didn’t take her up on the offer but it seems something that is important to know. 

[Xahm]

A lot of schools, particularly rougher ones, around here don't allow locker use. When I was in school they told us the fire Marshall banned bringing bags to class, but I was never fully convinced that was true. Now they have to, but the bags must be clear.

[Library Momma]

My kids went to a small to medium sized high school 500ish total kids.  They had lockers and used them most of the time.  A majority of the kids would stick a pencil in the lock to jam it permanently unlocked.  That way they wouldn't have to bother using the combination every time they opened and closed it.  They both did sports and sometimes left their sport bag/equipment in their locker.  Other times they left it in their coache's classroom or in their car - It really depended on the sport.

[hjffkj]

At the private school I went to through most of high school we weren't allowed to carry our backpacks into classrooms so we had to use our lockers. But we rarely locked them. In the huge public high school I went to for one year, I didn't even know where my locker was.  

But my parents knew nothing about my locker usage. And honestly had my mom demanded I use it or she'd come show me how to, I'd just lie to her about it and likely stop talking to her about anything having to do with my school life and likely personal life because of that overreaction.

[prairiewindmomma]

My middle kids used lockers in jr high but don't in high school. Their lockers aren't big enough to hold coats + anything else and they are often criss-crossing a large building with a very short passing time period.  They don't have time to go to the bathroom, let alone walk halfway across a building to a locker, swap stuff, then walk across a different length of the building to class. 

The main reason our kids don't use their locker (and most of their classmates) is because they want to have their stuff with them in case of an emergency.  Every single year my kids have been in school there has been at least one incident, sometimes as many as three---in which our kids have been either locked down for a long period of time or locked out of the building.  When "The Fire" happened last winter, kids who had car keys or other essentials in their locker had to wait for a teacher to go in, student by student, and access their locker for them to grab stuff.  It took a LONG TIME to get essentials to be able to go home. They were outside in the elements on the football field while they waited.  It's tied to the same reason my kids always have their phone on them, even if it's tucked entirely out of sight. My kid got caught in an outbuilding during a lockdown, separated from his sibling, and so they both hopped onto the family group chat to give updates. I live in a safe town, statistically....but this is the modern norm.

[teachermom2834]

4 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

My middle kids used lockers in jr high but don't in high school. Their lockers aren't big enough to hold coats + anything else and they are often criss-crossing a large building with a very short passing time period.  They don't have time to go to the bathroom, let alone walk halfway across a building to a locker, swap stuff, then walk across a different length of the building to class. 

The main reason our kids don't use their locker (and most of their classmates) is because they want to have their stuff with them in case of an emergency.  Every single year my kids have been in school there has been at least one incident, sometimes as many as three---in which our kids have been either locked down for a long period of time or locked out of the building.  When "The Fire" happened last winter, kids who had car keys or other essentials in their locker had to wait for a teacher to go in, student by student, and access their locker for them to grab stuff.  It took a LONG TIME to get essentials to be able to go home. They were outside in the elements on the football field while they waited.  It's tied to the same reason my kids always have their phone on them, even if it's tucked entirely out of sight. My kid got caught in an outbuilding during a lockdown, separated from his sibling, and so they both hopped onto the family group chat to give updates. I live in a safe town, statistically....but this is the modern norm.

These reasons make sense. Not using it because it is too hard to learn how is what I find perplexing. 

[teachermom2834]

9 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

At the private school I went to through most of high school we weren't allowed to carry our backpacks into classrooms so we had to use our lockers. But we rarely locked them. In the huge public high school I went to for one year, I didn't even know where my locker was.  

But my parents knew nothing about my locker usage. And honestly had my mom demanded I use it or she'd come show me how to, I'd just lie to her about it and likely stop talking to her about anything having to do with my school life and likely personal life because of that overreaction.

Yeah I understand. I wholly admit I’m going to be irrational if my dd insists opening a combination lock is just too dang hard. Of course I’m not actually dealing with this issue because she figured it out.

[hjffkj]

5 minutes ago, teachermom2834 said:

Yeah I understand. I wholly admit I’m going to be irrational if my dd insists opening a combination lock is just too dang hard. Of course I’m not actually dealing with this issue because she figured it out.

I imagine most kids who say opening is too hard don't actually care about using the locker and just use the difficulty as an excuse.

[MEmama]

According to my DS when he was in public high school, no one bothered with lockers anymore. They seemed quite out of fashion. 🤷‍♀️

[Alice]

My kids can get a locker at their school if they want one. They don't have one. They said mostly it's kids who have an instrument to store or some  large sports equipment but that most people don't have them. Their main raise is that they don't have feel like they would have time between classes. They also have only four classes a day max and they really don't have any textbooks to carry, pretty much everything is sources on the laptop or books they can leave at home or they use in the classroom. So they aren't carrying a ton of stuff with them. 

[Annie G]

Our grandkids in high school have no lockers. They were removed. It’s super annoying to have to drag around everything all day, especially clothes for after school sports practice. 
 

[EKS]

1 hour ago, Katy said:

I thought the skill of opening those locks was something everyone practiced with their kids? 

People don’t expect their kids to be able to figure this stuff out on their own?  I’m honestly stunned.

[Murphy101]

Back in the early 90s. Almost no one used lockers at my school bc we had 5 minutes to get between classes and it was just more stress to deal with lockers than just keep your stuff with you.  But I absolutely could use the locks. 

[strawberries]

DD16 has a locker but doesn't use it. She says it's in an inconvenient place - the school has four floors and she'd rather carry her stuff around then risk being late or missing the bus trying to sprint up and down the stairs. She does know how to use the combination lock. Last year when she had P.E. she used one in the locker room every day.

[Murphy101]

2 minutes ago, EKS said:

People don’t expect their kids to be able to figure this stuff out on their own?  I’m honestly stunned.

 

33 minutes ago, teachermom2834 said:

These reasons make sense. Not using it because it is too hard to learn how is what I find perplexing. 

 

1 hour ago, Katy said:

I thought the skill of opening those locks was something everyone practiced with their kids? 

1) It should come as no shock that most people of any age do not like doing things they think are bothersome.

2) It should come as no shock that most people do not practice much of anything with their kids. Communication is hard. And that brings us back to #1

3) I personally dislike the phrase “let them figure it out” bc frankly I see a world more full of people struggling than actually figuring anything out. Myself included. People do not just miraculously know about things and how things work. And, again, communication is hard, and no one likes to feel stupid so they don’t ask the questions needed to “figure it out.”

[SKL]

When I was a kid, getting a locker was like a rite of passage.  It never even occurred to me to not want a locker.

Of course, in those days, if one had 6 classes, one probably had 8 textbooks, 6 notebooks, and a binder.  Nowadays, most of the textbooks are online.  Also, I lived in the "snow belt" and walked to school.  While I was too cool to wear a hat or boots, I did wear a thick coat most days.

My kids had lockers in middle school and used them.

My kids started high school in 2020.  Due to Covid, the school stopped assigning lockers.  I don't remember the logic, but there were no lockers assigned for a couple of years.  So the kids got used to carrying everything everywhere.  (They could leave their band and sports stuff in band/gym lockers if they had time before / between classes.)  Given the small number of books they had/have, all their class stuff generally fits in one backpack.  Besides, their high school's lockers are super narrow.  Like, you couldn't fit a pair of winter boots in there.  Certainly not a backpack.  You could jimmy your books in and out, but it wouldn't be convenient.

As for coats ... my kids have always been weird about wearing coats.  Even when they had to walk a mile after school in winter, they'd do so in a hoodie.  Whatever ... you can lead a horse to water ....  Now one of mine will wear a coat sometimes, but she just keeps it with her all day.

As for locks ... I bought my kids locks and prepared to teach them how to use them.  But they weren't interested.  I think one of mine would probably have a learning curve, but she'd figure it out.  I mean she can tie shoes, play instruments, withdraw cash, and drive a car.  If she wants to figure out how to use a lock, it will happen.

[Faith-manor]

Ours eliminated lockers. Kids have to tote everything to class. Part of the reason was practicality. They schedule classes with only 5 minutes in between, and combined grades 7-12 into one building. Hallways were congested, and no one who locker was on one end of the building to get to their locker and back to the opposite end on time. It got easier when they decided "who needs books", and decided a book was a tragedy perpetuated on youth, and thought a notebook/kindle thing was better. At least the kids are not getting bad backs from toting 60 lbs of books around all day. But mostly, it just makes my brain twitch.

They sold the lockers at auction. It was shocking just how many lockers that was. But apparently some of them dated back to the 1960's when the high school population was 3 or 4 times the size it is now. They do have coat hooks and racks at the entrances, and in many of the classrooms so in the winter kids can hang those up and not haul them from room to room.

[bolt.]

2 hours ago, teachermom2834 said:

If your kids are in school do they have access to a locker? Do they use it?

My dd goes to a small high school and has a locker that she will keep all four years. So she only needs to learn the combination one time and she is good. She was homeschooled before high school and being able to open a combination lock was something we practiced.

I am dumbfounded by how many of her smart and competent peers have forfeited locker use because they can’t open the lock and don’t want to ask for help or learn. Some have actual malfunctioning lockers that get stuck but they could ask and be reassigned another one or have it fixed. Others just think opening a lock is too hard. They just resign themselves to carrying their stuff all the time. These kids do have some books though not for every class. They also carry duffel bags with clothes to change for after school activities. They probably just don’t wear a coat most days rather than worry about carrying it. It’s not usually too cold to run into the school without a coat. 
 

If it was my dd it would drive me nuts that she didn’t use her locker she had access to. She uses hers all the time and it is useful. I would be very frustrated if she wouldn’t just learn the combination or ask for help. I’m pretty sure I would demand she learn to use it or I would march into school and teach her in embarrassing fashion. But I realize I am an old school hard mom about some things.

I thought it was just one little friend with anxiety she had that wouldn’t learn to use her locker but through driving lots of kids around and listening in I realized some of the most stellar kids in the 10th grade at this private school won’t learn to use their lockers. For the record it is a tiny school and they are not too far away from their classes. 
 

In the nineties the biggest burnouts in the school could manage their lockers. Lol. Thoughts?

 

My kiddo goes to high school, where she is assigned a lock and a locker (they are separate objects). I assume they use it to the degree that they find it useful -- but I haven't really asked.

If I was in the situation with a kid that didn't choose to use a locker they had access to -- I would have absolutely no feelings whatsoever. Honestly, I've got bigger fish to fry. It seems really strange to set out to decide, on behalf of a teenager, that whichever inconvenient task I would find most annoying (ie learning to use a locker or choosing to carry belongings) must have a role in influencing their school life. To me, that's a strange degree of overlap. My teenager is in charge of much more consequential personal decisions than whether they like lockers or not. It's not up to me to declare minor decisions that aren't my preferences to be not rational enough to tolerate in a member of my family.

It's certain that I would never chose to enter the school with the intent to teach that skill (at all), far less with plans to make an intentionally embarrassing incident out of it. (Who burns the bridges of love and trust that teens depend on with their parents over locker-use choices??? That's not old school -- it's just plain intrusive and hurtful.)

I suppose if it only 'drove me nuts' and made me 'very frustrated' but I kept it to myself and let the teenager steer their own course -- fine, feelings are feelings and all your feelings belong. But it does seem like a very small molehill to be having any kind of reaction to.

[EKS]

26 minutes ago, Murphy101 said:

 I personally dislike the phrase “let them figure it out” bc frankly I see a world more full of people struggling than actually figuring anything out. Myself included. People do not just miraculously know about things and how things work. And, again, communication is hard, and no one likes to feel stupid so they don’t ask the questions needed to “figure it out.”

One way to figure out the locker thing is to consult with an upperclassman.  No mommy necessary.

The coddling that is becoming normative these days is truly ridiculous.

[teachermom2834]

My daughter has so much stuff to carry even with a locker sometimes if she has some extra thing that requires some additional change of clothes she does have a teacher she can ask to stash stuff and she has a relationship with the librarian and she stashes stuff there so surely other kids have those work arounds. It’s just you actually have access to a locker and the lock is the only thing standing in your way…hmmm.

The upside is that her friends that don’t use her lockers have offered her theirs. I’ve discouraged that just because things get complicated. She was going to start using a boyfriend’s locker that was on another side of the school and I pointed out the issue that would be when they broke up. A week later she was glad she hadn’t started that. Haha. So many life lessons in high school. 

[teachermom2834]

I do realize I said I would march into the school and teach my dd how to use her locker but I really wouldn’t do that. I am guilty of speaking in hyperbole and I am pretty sure I might have told my dd that and she would have thought hey my mom thinks I need to learn how to use a combination lock maybe I should do that. I would have to call the school to get access and I am way too lazy and wimpy to do that. 
 

But I will own being involved enough in my teen’s life to point out the folly in carrying multiple huge heavy bags around every day when there is a simple solution.  Yep I am that mom. I might even point out that she is being ridiculous. I have made a point in training my kids to ask questions and ask for help and I don’t regret that. 

[SKL]

7 minutes ago, teachermom2834 said:

But I will own being involved enough in my teen’s life to point out the folly in carrying multiple huge heavy bags around every day when there is a simple solution.  Yep I am that mom. I might even point out that she is being ridiculous. I have made a point in training my kids to ask questions and ask for help and I don’t regret that. 

Well if the kids say it really is more difficult to use a locker, why not believe them?  Do most teens purposely do the thing that takes the most work?

Even when I was in high school, and my locker wasn't too far from the middle of the school, I only visited it on arrival, at lunchtime, and after school ended.  We had 2.5 minutes for switching classes, and teachers would discipline us if we were late.  So we would pile up our morning books and drag them around all morning, then switch them out for our afternoon books after lunch.  The pile of textbooks even for half a day was not small.

I don't think we were allowed to carry backpacks in school back then.  It was a time when bomb threats were popular, they didn't want kids possibly toting around drugs / cigarettes / alcohol, it made theft too easy, might have been a fire hazard, etc.  I wish I could have carried mine; it would have been better than hiding my tampons in my tube socks.  😛  But anyhoo.  I'm glad my kids are allowed to carry their backpacks everywhere.  If they don't want a locker in addition, I really don't care.

Edited March 13 by SKL

[SKL]

16 minutes ago, EKS said:

One way to figure out the locker thing is to consult with an upperclassman.  No mommy necessary.

The coddling that is becoming normative these days is truly ridiculous.

Pretty sure neither of my parents ever set foot in my high school while I was a student.  I even registered myself when we moved there in 8th grade.

Things I would ask my dad about were how to fix the car when it broke down, LOL.  I don't remember asking my mom how to do anything as a teen.  (I learned cooking, laundry, etc. much younger.)

[teachermom2834]

9 minutes ago, SKL said:

Well if the kids say it really is more difficult to use a locker, why not believe them?  Do most teens purposely do the thing that takes the most work?

Even when I was in high school, and my locker wasn't too far from the middle of the school, I only visited it on arrival, at lunchtime, and after school ended.  We had 2.5 minutes for switching classes, and teachers would discipline us if we were late.  So we would pile up our morning books and drag them around all morning, then switch them out for our afternoon books after lunch.  The pile of textbooks even for half a day was not small.

I don't think we were allowed to carry backpacks in school back then.  It was a time when bomb threats were popular, they didn't want kids possibly toting around drugs / cigarettes / alcohol, it made theft too easy, might have been a fire hazard, etc.  I wish I could have carried mine; it would have been better than hiding my tampons in my tube socks.  😛  But anyhoo.  I'm glad my kids are allowed to carry their backpacks everywhere.  If they don't want a locker in addition, I really don't care.

Just because she is a strong woman and I don’t want her defeated by a combination lock I guess. 

[SKL]

3 minutes ago, teachermom2834 said:

Just because she is a strong woman and I don’t want her defeated by a combination lock I guess. 

But surely you trust that, when eventually confronted with an actual need to use a combination lock, she will figure it out?

[Clarita]

At one point in school I was assigned a locker. I never knew where it was. It was too hard to use. Too hard doesn't have to be can't wrap my head around figuring it out, it can also be there's only 10 min between classes where you have to get to the locker and go to the next class and it's your only break to go to the bathroom or just take a breather hard.

[teachermom2834]

Just now, SKL said:

But surely you trust that, when eventually confronted with an actual need to use a combination lock, she will figure it out?

Well, yes.

But I certainly would also point out to her “hey you can do this. It isn’t that hard.”

 

[teachermom2834]

2 minutes ago, Clarita said:

At one point in school I was assigned a locker. I never knew where it was. It was too hard to use. Too hard doesn't have to be can't wrap my head around figuring it out, it can also be there's only 10 min between classes where you have to get to the locker and go to the next class and it's your only break to go to the bathroom or just take a breather hard.

Right. I’m specifically talking about kids that say they can’t open the lock. 
 

I was the kind of kid that would have been really anxious about every little thing and struggled with a combination lock in a social situation and if it was socially acceptable to lug stuff around all the time I would have done that. But it doesn’t mean opening the lock might not have been a good idea. I’m glad I learned how to do it and even as an anxious kid I overcame it. So I guess it pains me to see so many kids saying they can’t open a lock. But I get that I’m the weird one. I haven’t accused their parents of neglect or anything.

[SKL]

10 minutes ago, teachermom2834 said:

Well, yes.

But I certainly would also point out to her “hey you can do this. It isn’t that hard.”

 

What if our micromanaging this age-appropriate decision implies that our kids are less capable than we want them to feel?

[teachermom2834]

5 minutes ago, SKL said:

What if our micromanaging this age-appropriate decision implies that our kids are less capable than we want them to feel?

That’s an angle for sure.

I’ve launched 3 kids and this one is highly independent. I’m comfortable with my parenting choice that would encourage her to learn to use a combination lock if she felt it was too hard. 

[SKL]

Don't get me wrong.  I've been that mom who forces her kids to do "hard things" so they'll know they can do it.  Like the time I forced my kids to take and pass the lifeguard certification course at age 15.  (Some people here thought I was wrong to do that.)  But most of these instances were when my kids were in middle school or younger, and not expecting to make their own decisions.  Like when I'd drop them off in the parking lot at a new summer camp and say "walk inside and ask someone where you're supposed to go."  When I forced them to cook things, plunge the toilet, do the grocery shopping, etc., or sent them into the gym where they were to take their black belt tests.  By the time they were in high school, we were past fussing over something as minor as a combination lock, unless they wanted my help.

Edited March 13 by SKL

[SKL]

10 minutes ago, teachermom2834 said:

That’s an angle for sure.

I’ve launched 3 kids and this one is highly independent. I’m comfortable with my parenting choice that would encourage her to learn to use a combination lock if she felt it was too hard. 

 

Edit - NM, I re-read the OP and you said your dd didn't have this particular problem.

 

Edited March 13 by SKL

[SKL]

To be fair, my kids didn't say they "couldn't" use the lockers.  They said they didn't want to.

Had my kids told me something along the lines of "opening the lock is just too hard," I too would have called BS.

[teachermom2834]

1 minute ago, SKL said:

So ... do you really think she thought it was too hard?  Or that she just didn't want to be bothered?

Enough. You win. I’m a control freak. 

My dd learned to open her lock the first day of 9th grade which was the first day she stepped foot in any kind of school whatsoever. 
 

I have been surprised by the number of her friends who are the kids who are in all APs etc leaders of the school who I have in my car complaining about carrying their stuff around all day because they can not open their lockers because they do not know how to work the combination locks. I find this curious. If it was my dd I would be pretty insistent that she was capable of learning  to open her locker as she would have an easily solvable problem. But it would certainly  be her problem at the end of the day. I would tell her that I thought she was being silly because she could totally open a lock. 
 

I just posted because I found it curious that I have noticed this issue. Smart kids defeated by combination locks and unwilling to learn/ask for help. 
 

Sometimes we just post on things we are musing on. This isn’t my issue. My daughter is an aggressive question asker. I get that we have a different opinion on the issue! 

[SKL]

2 minutes ago, teachermom2834 said:

Enough. You win. I’m a control freak. 

My dd learned to open her lock the first day of 9th grade which was the first day she stepped foot in any kind of school whatsoever. 
 

I have been surprised by the number of her friends who are the kids who are in all APs etc leaders of the school who I have in my car complaining about carrying their stuff around all day because they can not open their lockers because they do not know how to work the combination locks. I find this curious. If it was my dd I would be pretty insistent that she was capable of learning  to open her locker as she would have an easily solvable problem. But it would certainly  be her problem at the end of the day. I would tell her that I thought she was being silly because she could totally open a lock. 
 

I just posted because I found it curious that I have noticed this issue. Smart kids defeated by combination locks and unwilling to learn/ask for help. 
 

Sometimes we just post on things we are musing on. This isn’t my issue. My daughter is an aggressive question asker. I get that we have a different opinion on the issue! 

I admit that I lost track of your facts in your OP.  Sorry about that.

I call BS on all those smart kids being unable to work the locks, unless the lockers are in disrepair, which is possible.

Teens enjoy whining about how hard their lives are.  My kids and their friends are always complaining about how unreasonable their teachers are.  And how ugly the available boys are.  And how far the coaches make them run in practice.  And how sucky the lunches are.  None of which I pretend to care about.  😛

[footballmom]

My kids had high school lockers but never used them. They don’t have individual assigned text books to carry around and the lockers are too inconveniently located to stop between classes. 

[Terabith]

Lockers about gave my kid a nervous breakdown when she was in seventh grade. She has working memory challenges and couldn’t memorize the combination no matter how much we practiced. Even with it written down, she couldn’t get it to open.  There is very limited time in passing periods; she was terrified of being late, and she simply could never get the locker to open. I couldn’t get it to open when she was sick and I went to get her stuff.  We wound up placing her in a special Ed homeroom because the special Ed teacher had a key and could open her locker for her.  It was ridiculous and like 90% of her stress went away the next year when there were more kids than lockers and she volunteered to do without.  She’s about to graduate from high school and hasn’t had a locker since 7th grade and she’s fine.  And the locker thing was one of the most stressful things about her school career.  I’m not a fan of mandatory lockers.  

[kbutton]

 

1 hour ago, EKS said:

One way to figure out the locker thing is to consult with an upperclassman.  No mommy necessary.

The coddling that is becoming normative these days is truly ridiculous.

I was rarely around upperclassman near a locker. Home rooms/lockers were segregated by grade, and during lunch, we couldn’t wander the halls. We had just a few minutes to go back to our locker if we needed to.

37 minutes ago, SKL said:

Had my kids told me something along the lines of "opening the lock is just too hard," I too would have called BS.

31 minutes ago, teachermom2834 said:

 have been surprised by the number of her friends who are the kids who are in all APs etc leaders of the school who I have in my car complaining about carrying their stuff around all day because they can not open their lockers because they do not know how to work the combination locks. I find this curious. If it was my dd I would be pretty insistent that she was capable of learning  to open her locker as she would have an easily solvable problem. But it would certainly  be her problem at the end of the day. I would tell her that I thought she was being silly because she could totally open a lock. 
 

I just posted because I found it curious that I have noticed this issue. Smart kids defeated by combination locks and unwilling to learn/ask for help. 

Call me foolish and stupid by the measure of this thread.

I couldn’t open a combo lock when I transferred to a school that had them. They were not built in, so I brought a key lock from home, and the home room teacher kept a spare. In high school, all the lockers had keys.

I asked and practiced with a teacher. It was humiliating. He was baffled and tossed up his hands. The longer it went on, the less my brain could even engage with the task because I was so humiliated (he wasn’t mean, but everyone was aware of my ineptitude). 

At college, our post office boxes came with actual instructions for opening the combination lock, and I was like, “Why couldn’t someone have just shown me this way?!?” Worked like a charm.

And guess what? I don’t remember how to open them anymore even after years of using one daily. I would have to Google. 

Last I knew, Understood.org had a picture and clear instructions like the ones provided to me in college (not known for hand-holding).

 

[teachermom2834]

2 minutes ago, Terabith said:

Lockers about gave my kid a nervous breakdown when she was in seventh grade. She has working memory challenges and couldn’t memorize the combination no matter how much we practiced. Even with it written down, she couldn’t get it to open.  There is very limited time in passing periods; she was terrified of being late, and she simply could never get the locker to open. I couldn’t get it to open when she was sick and I went to get her stuff.  We wound up placing her in a special Ed homeroom because the special Ed teacher had a key and could open her locker for her.  It was ridiculous and like 90% of her stress went away the next year when there were more kids than lockers and she volunteered to do without.  She’s about to graduate from high school and hasn’t had a locker since 7th grade and she’s fine.  And the locker thing was one of the most stressful things about her school career.  I’m not a fan of mandatory lockers.  

That’s awful. I’m definitely not for anything causing more stress! It’s hard enough 

[Drama Llama]

42 minutes ago, teachermom2834 said:

Smart kids defeated by combination locks and unwilling to learn/ask for help. 

I don't think you can conclude that. 

I think it's more likely that they were shy or overwhlemed and didn't ask at orientation, and then realized that it isn't a thing that would actually be useful, so they didn't pursue it.

 

[kbutton]

P.S. some people are not able to learn physical tasks with an audience, even a friendly one.

 

[teachermom2834]

1 minute ago, kbutton said:

 

I was rarely around upperclassman near a locker. Home rooms/lockers were segregated by grade, and during lunch, we couldn’t wander the halls. We had just a few minutes to go back to our locker if we needed to.

Call me foolish and stupid by the measure of this thread.

I couldn’t open a combo lock when I transferred to a school that had them. They were not built in, so I brought a key lock from home, and the home room teacher kept a spare. In high school, all the lockers had keys.

I asked and practiced with a teacher. It was humiliating. He was baffled and tossed up his hands. The longer it went on, the less my brain could even engage with the task because I was so humiliated (he wasn’t mean, but everyone was aware of my ineptitude). 

At college, our post office boxes came with actual instructions for opening the combination lock, and I was like, “Why couldn’t someone have just shown me this way?!?” Worked like a charm.

And guess what? I don’t remember how to open them anymore even after years of using one daily. I would have to Google. 

Last I knew, Understood.org had a picture and clear instructions like the ones provided to me in college (not known for hand-holding).

 

I don’t think anyone is stupid or foolish. I do think it is a skill most people can learn. If someone can’t then not using one would be less stressful and I am for less stress. 
 

I was an anxious kid that struggled with these kind of tasks and having attention drawn to it would have made it harder. So I do understand. I also would spend a lot of time trying to teach my dd in an effort to reduce her stress, not increase it. 

[teachermom2834]

1 minute ago, kbutton said:

P.S. some people are not able to learn physical tasks with an audience, even a friendly one.

 

I actually do relate to this.

[teachermom2834]

2 minutes ago, Drama Llama said:

I don't think you can conclude that. 

I think it's more likely that they were shy or overwhlemed and didn't ask at orientation, and then realized that it isn't a thing that would actually be useful, so they didn't pursue it.

 

Well I am going on what the kids say but it is absolutely true kids say all kinds of things.

Edited March 13 by teachermom2834

[kbutton]

My locker was mostly useful for my outwear (cold climate), a “half-time” switch of books (long hallways sprawled out), and a stash of gym clothes (we had to have eight semesters of gym, .25 credits each).

My kid goes to a small school, but he keeps food in his in case he forgets lunch or had an unusually hungry day. (Lunch plan is lame, expensive, and only reserved in advance.)

[rebcoola]

My kids school doesn't have lockers almost everything is on their chromebooks they dont have a ton they have to carry. Its a special school so no band, pe or sports some kid do those at their home high school I assume they keep stuff in their car or at that school.

[kbutton]

3 minutes ago, teachermom2834 said:

I don’t think anyone is stupid or foolish. I do think it is a skill most people can learn. If someone can’t then not using one would be less stressful and I am for less stress. 

It’s impossible to learn if literally everyone that shows you leaves out information about turning past zero or whatever it is that finally made me successful. They usually just dial it all over really fast. Even knowing if it’s left right left or the reverse—it’s like watching someone speed solve a Rubik’s cube.

[Terabith]

And some kids don’t know left from right and really cannot learn it.  My kid was literally curling up in the fetal position in the hallway and under desks at school from the stress of having to open the lockers.  It’s an absolutely ridiculous hill for anyone to choose to die on.