For twelve long years, from the 1st grade to my senior year in high school, I went to school without air conditioning. Most of the time, I was wearing a thick, navy blue `jumper made of polyester which traps in the heat and makes it hotter. I was forced to sit in 90-degree classrooms where the only relief comes from zipping down the back of the uniform, which was even something we would get penalized for. As punishment for a discipline issue, my high school forced us to wear thick navy stockings instead of knee socks, enforcing this rule even when the heat index rose to the 90s and 100s.
Students all over Philadelphia - all over the country - suffer similar conditions, and it's just not talked about enough.
This lack of air conditioning in schools creates a stifling and uncomfortable learning environment that is unjust to the students. School is supposed to be a haven for students to obtain knowledge and develop, instead students come to a hotbox classroom that makes breathing difficult.
Air conditioning is a basic necessity that should be, without question, equipped in every school in America. But due to inadequate funding, it is not, and this infringes upon the student's right to education. In May 2018, research proved that when classrooms get too hot it prevent students from learning as well as they would in more comfortable temperatures, with lasting impacts on students' future success and their ability to contribute economically. I could've told you that from the hell I suffered in high school!
The United States of America is supposed to be the best country in the world. Yet we force students all over the country to endure inhumane classroom conditions. There is something wrong when prisons are air-conditioned, but classrooms are not. The education of the young generation affects the future of this country, yet no one acts as if they care. The solution can be a simple one - but we continue to overlook this problem and leave the young students of our country sitting in stifling classrooms. So I ask you, the reader, what should we do about it?
