In my experience, study hall rarely does its job.

Its goal is to create a quiet environment where students can work and teachers can check on their progress. In theory, this should be simple. We all know the rules: stay in your own room, no loud music, no loud talking, and keep your door open at a full 90 degrees.

But I believe this last rule—forcing us to keep our doors open—makes study hall frustratingly ineffective. Oftentimes, instead of helping students to focus, it creates a loud and distracting environment. We’re teenagers, so we know not everyone is going to follow the rules all the time. People are going to wander about. People are going to play music. People are going to talk, laugh, and shout. The open door policy doesn’t stop these distractions. It only makes them worse.

When doors are open, noise travels freely. Sounds you might not have noticed with a closed door become impossible to ignore. Even worse, having doors open actually encourages conversation. People passing by are far more likely to peek in if the door is open and maybe start a conversation. Similarly, those in their rooms are more likely to wander out if they are constantly exposed to the activity in the halls. Ironically, a system that is meant to keep us focused and on task actually has the opposite effect.

Occasionally, the person on duty will patrol the hall, sending everyone scurrying back to their rooms. But they can’t monitor the halls every second, and as we all know, when the cat is away, the mice will play. Teachers on duty have enough responsibility already, and the open door rule only makes their job harder by allowing distractions to spread. We need a more permanent solution to this problem.

Admittedly, letting students fully close their doors might prevent teachers from easily monitoring students. While I could argue that teachers can always knock and open the door, this itself might prove to be a distraction. So, after talking with various teachers on duty in my dorm, I propose a simple compromise: students should keep their doors partially open—about 30 degrees. This way, teachers can still peek in and check that students are in there rooms, but it is hard to see in and out of the room from most angles, preventing visual distractions. Also, the noise that can be heard is significantly reduced compared to when the door is fully open.

Ultimately, I think that something has to be done about study hall. It has gotten to the point where some students feel forced to leave their dorm rooms altogether and head to the library or Learning Center just to find some peace and quiet. Right now, the system is broken, so we need to discuss how to fix it.