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After returning from summer break, students love sharing their class schedules and finding out which friends are in the same class. Many look forward to sitting next to their friends in class. However, seating arrangements are oftentimes decided by the teacher through assigned seating. Although assigned seating may help maintain order in the classroom, it ultimately limits social interaction, collaboration, and student independence, and therefore, schools should not enforce assigned seating.
Social interaction is an essential skill of adult life that students are expected to learn and develop in school, but assigned seating actively restricts it. Students are often forced to sit next to strangers they are not close to rather than their friends, limiting their social interaction. Some might argue that this is a good way for students to meet new people and practice social skills. While this might work later in the year, once students have warmed up to each other, forcing students to interact with new people may not be as effective. Because everyone is still readjusting to the school environment after a two-month break, students might not be comfortable enough to try to meet new people. Forcing assigned seating may have the opposite of its intended effect and could discourage people from practicing social interaction at all.
Despite decreased social interaction, some still argue that assigned seating is worth it due to improved student performance. However, studies have disproven this claim, showing that assigned seating is not associated with student learning. Furthermore, due to the decreased collaboration, assigned seating can actually harm students. Since students can’t sit next to friends or people of their choosing, they would be less willing to collaborate. This can negatively impact group projects and the overall student learning experience and performance.
While some argue that assigned seating keeps the classroom focused and the students on task, oftentimes, the majority of students are not disruptive. Even without assigned seating, only one or two students may present major distractions. This shouldn’t justify forcing the entire class into assigned seating. Furthermore, assigned seating only mitigates the problem of students disrupting the class and does not solve it. Instead of learning self-control, students may harbor resentment for their teachers and fail to change. Instead, students should take responsibility and gain some independence by making good choices for themselves. Teachers should instead focus on communicating goals with the student and working with them to solve the problem, using assigned seating only as a solution for specific students if the goals prove to be too much for students to achieve on their own.
Assigned seating may be necessary for some students in some situations. However, subjecting entire classrooms to assigned seating is not ideal because it limits students’ social interaction, collaboration and independence. Instead of assigning seats, schools should trust students to make the right decisions for themselves and step in only when proven wrong.
