7 ms·

Do you have any of those photos? I find it hard to believe.

_ph_ 6y ago
I am surprised about your comment. What do you find hard to believe? I am from (western) Germany, and I find it hard to believe, that there are class rooms without windows. Except for one or two special purpose rooms, in my school time, I have never ever seen a class room, which didn't have windows on one long side. The other long side would be towards the hallway. The rooms almost never needed artificial lighting (unless in the first hour in the Winter or really bad weather) and plenty of fresh air when opening the window. Daylight and fresh air are the best ways to keep the pupils awake.
- doukdouk 6y ago
  It 's "not having windows in the US" part that is surprising, not the "having windows in Germany".
  - bobbean 6y ago
    I live in the US, I don't think my highschool had windows in any of its classrooms. They're may have been one or two that I don't remember, but the majority only had a "window" in the door that was a small rectangle, about 6 inches wide and 2 feet tall. Some didn't even have that, or the teacher had it covered with poster board.
    - doukdouk 6y ago
      Is it specific to schools or is it common to have many rooms in buildings without windows?
      - kd5bjo 6y ago
        Rooms designed for presentations often don’t have windows so that they can be easily darkened for projectors to work better. Where I grew up, it was quite common for classrooms to have an overhead projector [1] equipped with a long scroll of transparent film. The instructor would give their lecture sitting at the projector and writing on the film instead of at a blackboard. [1] https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overhead_projector#/media/File:OHP-sch.JPG https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overhead_projector#/media/...
      - bobbean 6y ago
        Since the other commenter didn't answer your question even remotely.. It's mostly schools that are lacking windows. Most places (that my tired brain can think of) at least have a window, not necessarily one that opens though. Might be different for other places, only speaking from personal experience.
    - pantaloony 6y ago
      Our high school had many interior classrooms with no windows, and the perimeter classrooms only had one or two small ones each. It was relatively new (at the time) so was built with air conditioning in mind.
  - _ph_ 6y ago
    Sorry, then I misunderstood you. I thought your request was to see photos of classrooms with with windows.
  - lynndotpy 6y ago
    I'm from the US and classrooms without windows were very common in public schools. I didn't know this was surprising or unusual.
    - milesdyson_phd 6y ago
      I'm from the US and went to public schools in the midwest. The only rooms I can think of that didn't have windows were: the theatres (read big and small auditoriums), and the science labs. Heck, if you had a class on the first floor they usually had doors on the wall with windows leading outside too.
      - gerbal 6y ago
        It depends on the region, the age of the school, the wealth and demographics of the community. The poorer the area, its more likely the schools are overcrowded concrete boxes built in the 60s-80s. US Schooling is very inconsistent and varies a huge amount by municipality.
    - arethuza 6y ago
      All the schools I attended here in Scotland had huge windows - both in Victorian era builings and ones built in the 1970s. Day dreaming looking out the windows at the hills or sea was a favourite activity of mine!
bluesroo 6y ago
On mobile, but I was kinda shocked to see it when I lived in Pittsburgh. Google “Obama Academy Pittsburgh” for one example, but I was not at all alone in the area.
paganel 6y ago
It was a photo posted by a user from his actual classroom on a reddit thread some time ago, don't have that exact link available anymore, but a very quick search drove me to this more recent reddit thread [1] which describes the same issue. [1] https://old.reddit.com/r/Teachers/comments/6kcily/my_new_classroom_has_no_windows_ideas/ https://old.reddit.com/r/Teachers/comments/6kcily/my_new_cla...
SamReidHughes 6y ago
My high school got renovated with another row of classrooms next to the original two. So a bunch of classrooms lost their windows. It went from 1 hallway to 2 parallel hallways.
pavel_lishin 6y ago
I could probably dig some up from high school, but I think they're all on an external drive. And none of them are panoramic, of course. But yup, many rooms had no windows; just a big cinderblock room, the only window being by the door, opening into the hallway.
throwaway0a5e 6y ago
Most schools have all the classrooms on a perimeter so they get light. If there's a courtyard there will likely be classrooms on the interior as well. Rooms without windows tend to be intentionally reserved for things like artistic use (no windows to open to screw with humidity that some materials might not like), music (you can plaster all the walls in sound deadening. You don't tend to get windowless classrooms until decades after the building was built and the school is simply making due with the facilities they have in light of their changing needs. They'll shove a math class in a former art room or something. Back in the day windowless rooms were somewhat coveted because everyone had lesson plans on transparencies and they'd teach using the overhead projector the way some teachers use a PowerPoint today. Being able to turn down the lights (and not have the sun defeat your efforts) and then have the projector be the main focus helps keep the class on-task and keeps the teacher in better control of rowdy classes because the people who would drift off topic and engage in distracting chit-chat tend to drift off to sleep instead.
- eitally 6y ago
  My elementary schools were 1) L-shaped single story with classrooms ringing the exterior perimeter, 2) traditional 5 story brick with an atrium so both interior and exterior rooms got natural light. Middle school was single story again. High school was traditional 3 story brick. The only rooms without natural light were basement rooms (for band, theatre & ROTC) under the auditorium, which I think was 100% acceptable.
- pacaro 6y ago
  FWIW, it's "make do", not "make due", due and do are not homophones in British English
kn0where 6y ago
My school in the US had no windows in quite a few classrooms. I guess that’s what happens when you take an empty building designed for offices and divide it up into classrooms. It also had terrible ventilation. Many rooms would absolutely stink with the humidity unleashed from pubescent armpits, and the air conditioning was not up to the task.

_ph_ 6y ago

I am surprised about your comment. What do you find hard to believe? I am from (western) Germany, and I find it hard to believe, that there are class rooms without windows. Except for one or two special purpose rooms, in my school time, I have never ever seen a class room, which didn't have windows on one long side. The other long side would be towards the hallway. The rooms almost never needed artificial lighting (unless in the first hour in the Winter or really bad weather) and plenty of fresh air when opening the window. Daylight and fresh air are the best ways to keep the pupils awake.

doukdouk 6y ago
It 's "not having windows in the US" part that is surprising, not the "having windows in Germany".
- bobbean 6y ago
  I live in the US, I don't think my highschool had windows in any of its classrooms. They're may have been one or two that I don't remember, but the majority only had a "window" in the door that was a small rectangle, about 6 inches wide and 2 feet tall. Some didn't even have that, or the teacher had it covered with poster board.
  - doukdouk 6y ago
    Is it specific to schools or is it common to have many rooms in buildings without windows?
    - kd5bjo 6y ago
      Rooms designed for presentations often don’t have windows so that they can be easily darkened for projectors to work better. Where I grew up, it was quite common for classrooms to have an overhead projector [1] equipped with a long scroll of transparent film. The instructor would give their lecture sitting at the projector and writing on the film instead of at a blackboard. [1] https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overhead_projector#/media/File:OHP-sch.JPG https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overhead_projector#/media/...
    - bobbean 6y ago
      Since the other commenter didn't answer your question even remotely.. It's mostly schools that are lacking windows. Most places (that my tired brain can think of) at least have a window, not necessarily one that opens though. Might be different for other places, only speaking from personal experience.
  - pantaloony 6y ago
    Our high school had many interior classrooms with no windows, and the perimeter classrooms only had one or two small ones each. It was relatively new (at the time) so was built with air conditioning in mind.
- _ph_ 6y ago
  Sorry, then I misunderstood you. I thought your request was to see photos of classrooms with with windows.
- lynndotpy 6y ago
  I'm from the US and classrooms without windows were very common in public schools. I didn't know this was surprising or unusual.
  - milesdyson_phd 6y ago
    I'm from the US and went to public schools in the midwest. The only rooms I can think of that didn't have windows were: the theatres (read big and small auditoriums), and the science labs. Heck, if you had a class on the first floor they usually had doors on the wall with windows leading outside too.
    - gerbal 6y ago
      It depends on the region, the age of the school, the wealth and demographics of the community. The poorer the area, its more likely the schools are overcrowded concrete boxes built in the 60s-80s. US Schooling is very inconsistent and varies a huge amount by municipality.
  - arethuza 6y ago
    All the schools I attended here in Scotland had huge windows - both in Victorian era builings and ones built in the 1970s. Day dreaming looking out the windows at the hills or sea was a favourite activity of mine!

bluesroo 6y ago

On mobile, but I was kinda shocked to see it when I lived in Pittsburgh. Google “Obama Academy Pittsburgh” for one example, but I was not at all alone in the area.

paganel 6y ago

It was a photo posted by a user from his actual classroom on a reddit thread some time ago, don't have that exact link available anymore, but a very quick search drove me to this more recent reddit thread [1] which describes the same issue. [1] https://old.reddit.com/r/Teachers/comments/6kcily/my_new_classroom_has_no_windows_ideas/ https://old.reddit.com/r/Teachers/comments/6kcily/my_new_cla...

SamReidHughes 6y ago

My high school got renovated with another row of classrooms next to the original two. So a bunch of classrooms lost their windows. It went from 1 hallway to 2 parallel hallways.

pavel_lishin 6y ago

I could probably dig some up from high school, but I think they're all on an external drive. And none of them are panoramic, of course. But yup, many rooms had no windows; just a big cinderblock room, the only window being by the door, opening into the hallway.

throwaway0a5e 6y ago

Most schools have all the classrooms on a perimeter so they get light. If there's a courtyard there will likely be classrooms on the interior as well. Rooms without windows tend to be intentionally reserved for things like artistic use (no windows to open to screw with humidity that some materials might not like), music (you can plaster all the walls in sound deadening. You don't tend to get windowless classrooms until decades after the building was built and the school is simply making due with the facilities they have in light of their changing needs. They'll shove a math class in a former art room or something. Back in the day windowless rooms were somewhat coveted because everyone had lesson plans on transparencies and they'd teach using the overhead projector the way some teachers use a PowerPoint today. Being able to turn down the lights (and not have the sun defeat your efforts) and then have the projector be the main focus helps keep the class on-task and keeps the teacher in better control of rowdy classes because the people who would drift off topic and engage in distracting chit-chat tend to drift off to sleep instead.

eitally 6y ago
My elementary schools were 1) L-shaped single story with classrooms ringing the exterior perimeter, 2) traditional 5 story brick with an atrium so both interior and exterior rooms got natural light. Middle school was single story again. High school was traditional 3 story brick. The only rooms without natural light were basement rooms (for band, theatre & ROTC) under the auditorium, which I think was 100% acceptable.
pacaro 6y ago
FWIW, it's "make do", not "make due", due and do are not homophones in British English

kn0where 6y ago

My school in the US had no windows in quite a few classrooms. I guess that’s what happens when you take an empty building designed for offices and divide it up into classrooms. It also had terrible ventilation. Many rooms would absolutely stink with the humidity unleashed from pubescent armpits, and the air conditioning was not up to the task.