Frees are a cherished time for many juniors and seniors—the catch-up time for hours of homework, a break from rigorous classes, and the chance to socialize with friends. These opportunities are often rarities for upperclassmen inundated by heavy course loads, extensive extracurriculars, and, for many, college applications. But as someone who loves sitting on the floor, I was shocked to hear at the junior class meeting that sitting on the floor during frees was expressly forbidden. This struck me as completely absurd—after all, LM doesn’t even really have enough “collaborative furniture,” as Dr. Johnson puts it, to accommodate all students who have frees. It’s time to rethink this rule and allow students the freedom to sit where they please, including the floor.
Sitting on the floor allows students to be truly comfortable during their frees, whether students are using them to get work done independently, with friends, or just to socialize. Many people, however, don’t find chairs to be a comfortable way to spend this time, and instead would benefit more from being able to stretch out on the floor without needing to conform their body to a chair. Which students already do for long periods of time during their classes. The ability to spend a set during the day in a position more natural for one’s body, like sitting cross-legged or sitting against the wall will make frees restful for both the minds and bodies of students.
LM also lacks sufficient seating to actually accommodate all students with frees. It’s true that LM has collaborative furniture around the school, but this often doesn’t actually meet the needs of students who are trying to work alone. Often, collaborative spaces serve as congregation points for friends looking to socialize, study groups, or students working on projects for shared classes. These spaces are often taken up by such groups of students immediately when the set begins, meaning that a student could potentially spend half of their just free walking around the building in an attempt to find an empty spot to work, which is undeniably a waste of time. Giving students the ability to sit on the floor allows collaborative spaces to truly be used for collaboration, giving students who are trying to work independently a more quiet, isolated space if they desire.
Frees are supposed to be a time to mentally unwind and relax, and are important to the mental well-being of upperclassmen. LM students especially are constantly under pressure to perform well on exams, get into top schools, and excel in countless extracurriculars. Frees are a time when we’re meant to be comfortable and able to decompress, and introducing rules to this time is counterproductive to that goal, because it creates an unnecessarily rigid and strict aspect to a time that’s meant to be, well, free.
It’s time that LM revisit whether it’s truly necessary for students to sit in an area with chairs during frees. Sitting on the floor offers students the opportunity to be comfortable, relaxed, and to work in a quieter space where there are fewer students congregating. It makes little sense to introduce such rigidity into free sets, and it is long overdue that LM let go of these unnecessary restrictions. If LM is actually interested in student well-being, administration should put student wellbeing first and allow us to truly be free during our frees.
Jill • Oct 8, 2024 at 10:27 AM
As an LM parent, I was shocked by the amount of students in the hallways on a visit to the school in the middle of the day last winter. Students did not appear to be doing anything productive. It was loud and odd to step over students sprawled out on the floor socializing. I was shocked that it is allowed. I did not see a lap top or book open any where. I have also seen multiple videos of fights (one just last week) that take place in the collaborative space of the hallways and that is reason alone for every student to be somewhere and definitely not in the halls. Frees should be in classrooms, the gym, auditorium etc. I don’t think expecting a 13-19 year old to discipline themselves enough to sit in chairs for 6 hours a day is too much of a burden to one’s mental health and well being. Of course there can be reasonable exceptions.