If you’ve ever set foot in a classroom at BASIS Independent Fremont Upper, you’ve probably seen an Artcobell™ Cantilever Chair. If you’re a student, you probably sit in around eight of these chairs every day and know how they feel. However, the stools in Room 115 (the art room) are exclusive to that particular class. Why would BASIS make a decision like this? The answer is simple: in almost every way, the normal Cantilever Chair is preferable to the art room stools. For instance, the Cantilever Chair is far more comfortable than the art room stools. “[Artcobell™] Chairs give you a backrest, whereas stools allow you to fall back,” one peer shared with us in response to the chair vs. stool argument (Diva Shah 9th). With the chairs aiding back support, students can concentrate on lectures and take notes rather than worrying about that dull ache in their back. Along with comfort, the Artcobell™ chairs’ backrest structures help protect your posture and spinal cord from long-term harm. While using the stools, students are slouched and hunched over their desks while trying to learn.
One could argue in favor of the stool by saying that the stool is much more portable than the Artcobell™ Cantilever Chair. However, students shouldn’t have to move their chairs or stools around. The purpose of seating is to remain still — only group work would justify movement; even then, students could simply use a different chair rather than dragging their seat across the room. Along with the two drawbacks, many students express their concerns regarding the unsafety of the art stools, which would prevent them from focusing in class: Olivia Ma (10th) voices, “They suck because I almost fell off one of the stools once.”
In a popularity contest, regular chairs would undoubtedly triumph over a backless art room stool. According to our inquiries of the student body, the majority of BASIS students prefer the Artcobell™ Cantilever Chair over the irksome stools in the art room. After all, the normal chairs are infinitely more comfortable. However, the art room stools do in fact provide several advantages over the Artcobell™ Cantilever Chair.
Have you ever found yourself slouching while sitting on an Artcobell™ Cantilever Chair? If you have, I’m sure you wish you had better posture. While the art room stools may cause some initial discomfort, they also promote a more healthy posture. Stools accomplish this by encouraging active sitting, which refers to the active engagement of certain muscles while using single-seat furniture. By choosing to ensconce on a stool rather than a chair, this can be achieved without the support of a backrest, which will help fix one’s posture in the long term. A person who has become too acclimated to using chairs with backrests will become dependent on them and find it difficult to adjust to life without them. Therefore, the art room stools encourage independence and self-control, while the normal chair feeds into the desire to be sedentary.
Stools’ superiority over chairs is further demonstrated by their smaller size, reduced space requirements, and increased maneuverability. Additionally, they allow more freedom of movement in comparison to the chair. The average time it takes to sit down on and stand up from a stool is lower compared to the time it takes to execute the same actions on a chair due to its structure, and it is easier to turn around and move one’s legs on a stool than on a chair. These features are especially useful when a student is attempting to converse with peers in the vicinity. In the words of a fellow school-goer, James Gu (10th), “Miniature doesn’t mean inferior,” especially in the context of chairs. Due to the reasons outlined above, stools are more suitable than chairs for a serious and engaging learning environment.