I feel that pretty recently teachers have been more lenient on assigned seating, and I think we should bring it back and make it more popular. I want to change seats every quarter or chapter and make it randomized. Almost all my classes I pick my own seat and I’m just around the same people every time. Don’t get me wrong, getting to choose my seat is nice, useful when I’m in a smaller class, but we need to interact with different people than just our friends.

With assigned seating I get to work with people I don’t usually work with if I had a choice. In one of my classes, on the first day of school, I got assigned to a random table in math, and let me tell you, it was great. All the people were seniors, and I’ve never interacted with them that much. I learned a lot with them and one of them helped me a lot and helped me understand things clearly. Then, I got new seats for the next chapter and it was thankfully randomized. Again, I wasn’t with people I was close with, but I was able to learn and have different voices I wasn’t used to.

Many people have the excuse of not wanting to sit by people they don’t like, but in the real world, you’re going to interact with people who you don’t connect with, and have to deal with it. I mean, there have been times where I was at a new table and I was not excited because people say they don’t like them, but it wasn’t that bad. And even if it was, I was able to deal with it and learn about the disputes that may occur.

Another benefit of having assigned seating is you get a different perspective on tasks. I mean, I have classes with some of my friends, and if I got to choose my seat I would sit with them every time. I mean, of course it’s nice, but then every class will start to feel the same and it won’t feel new. I’ll just be going through my day like a zombie. Maybe I’m just a girl who likes adventure and new things, but collaborating with different people makes school less boring and new.

Overall, it is fun to have random seating charts because it’s a great way to meet new people and nobody wants to be the kid no one wants to sit by. There is always a time and place for choosing seats, but random seating keeps the day to day school fresh and new.