My kids didn't use their lockers in PGC schools 10-15 years ago. I was surprised then but think it's just how things are.

In our school, only freshmen are assigned lockers. Everyone else has to apply for one. Mine didn’t. They don’t wear coats. They drop off their sports gear with a teacher and pick it up at the end of the day. They don’t take food with them. And they meet up with friends at a designated place that doesn’t involve lockers.

Even my student athlete left their stuff in a classroom, not a locker. No one uses their locker for all the reasons mentioned already. Schools are more crowded and it takes so much time to get to their next class, that there's no time to stop at a locker, which is most likely not near any of your classrooms

I bet if all the lockers came with outlets for phone charging the kids would use them!

My kid says absolutely no time for lockers. I had trouble making it to her classes on back to school night even without crowds in hallways. She says totally jam packed especially at the staircases so she can’t get through. I don’t think it’s phones—I went to a HS like that in the 80s and I can remember it taking a full 5 minutes to get upstairs because we were really crowded, and then to try to the portables was another 5.

I have another kid at a different school and the lockers don’t work well and are often jammed.

my kids didn't really use their lockers 10 - 12 years ago. maybe for storage but not as a daily thing.

I don't think the time between classes has changed much though? It was always about 5 minutes more or less.

To me, the main difference is we didn't have cell phones distracting us. These kids are jumping on their cell phones, catching up with whatever group or TikTok has caught their eye, then bumping into friends and then making their way to class. We only had each other to distract us, not the internet and handheld devices.

B-CC PP again. IMO the only good thing about in-person back to school night as opposed to zoom for high school was really driving home how big and crowded these schools are and how little time you have to get from place to place.

Anonymous wrote:The schools are much bigger and they cannot get there in between classes and its not like they are carrying books anymore.

This. My kid was at B-CC and it was bigger than it was in the 90s. She’s have a 3rd floor class on one side followed by a basement class on the other side and only 7 minutes to get there.

My kid was required to use her locker in middle school. Kids weren’t allowed to bring their backpacks to class. Now she’s in high school and no one uses lockers. I think part of it is the time crunch, getting from one class to another on time. Teachers don’t always let a class leave the instant the bell rings. Also, even if the building/campus is the same size, if the school is more crowded than it was 30 years ago, you can’t move through the hallways as quickly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The schools are much bigger and they cannot get there in between classes and its not like they are carrying books anymore.

The schools aren't bigger. This DCC high school is the same size as it was in the '90s.

I do get that they don't carry textbooks anymore, so I figure that would be part of it. But it's not like they're not carrying stuff anymore. My DS takes his Chromebook, charger, headphones, the 1 or 2 textbooks he does have, lunch on occasion, etc. And he does use storage, it's just the teacher's classroom rather than his locker. And apparently this is what all the kids he knows do too!

Are the schools more crowded? I didn’t have lockers in high school but I’ve seen some schools with really packed hallways and it’s hard to get anywhere in a timely manner just because of crowds.

I think theft is also probably a big problem with lockers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The schools are much bigger and they cannot get there in between classes and its not like they are carrying books anymore.

The schools aren't bigger. This DCC high school is the same size as it was in the '90s.

I do get that they don't carry textbooks anymore, so I figure that would be part of it. But it's not like they're not carrying stuff anymore. My DS takes his Chromebook, charger, headphones, the 1 or 2 textbooks he does have, lunch on occasion, etc. And he does use storage, it's just the teacher's classroom rather than his locker. And apparently this is what all the kids he knows do too!

They don't need a locker for that. They need the chromebook for every class.

Anonymous wrote:The schools are much bigger and they cannot get there in between classes and its not like they are carrying books anymore.

The schools aren't bigger. This DCC high school is the same size as it was in the '90s.

I do get that they don't carry textbooks anymore, so I figure that would be part of it. But it's not like they're not carrying stuff anymore. My DS takes his Chromebook, charger, headphones, the 1 or 2 textbooks he does have, lunch on occasion, etc. And he does use storage, it's just the teacher's classroom rather than his locker. And apparently this is what all the kids he knows do too!

The schools are much bigger and they cannot get there in between classes and its not like they are carrying books anymore.

So am I the only whose MCPS HS kids refuse to use their lockers?

I found out because I was quizzing my DS on why he was late to class and he explained it was because he left his coat and other items in a teacher's class and he needed to pick them up. I asked why he didn't just put those items in his locker so he could retrieve them whenever and he looked at me like I had three heads and said no one uses their lockers.

I went to MCPS high schools in the '90s and lockers were a core part of the high school experience! You scheduled your routes around being able to drop off and pick up stuff by the lockers. You met up with your friends at your locker or theirs. Kids would decorate each other's lockers on their birthdays.

So is this unique to just my kid and our DCC high school? Or have most Gen Z kids given up on using lockers?

And if so, what the heck are schools gonna do with all that unused real estate?