The oldest door in the world is 5,500 years old and is housed in the Swiss National Museum. This is proof that doors have been around for over 55 centuries and yet University Prep students still don’t know how to use them. 

The usual scenario looks something like this: during passing period, one person will press the automatic door button, opening one of the two doors, then everyone on both sides will flood through that single door, shoving and pushing others out of the way. Very few people open the other door if there’s already one open, which is just lazy.

In more civil environments, it’s commonplace just to open the door, one door to enter and the other to exit, unless there are outstanding circumstances. Students should learn that opening the door isn’t the end of the world and it makes everyone else’s life more convenient. 

Using the right half of a two lane path is commonplace in America. We drive on the right, we walk through the hallway on the right, all of our transportation happens on the right side. This is because in 1804, most buggy drivers sat on the right to insure their buggy would not run into a ditch. Then, New York state became the first state to make driving on the right the legal norm, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. So not only have students had 5,500 years to get used to using doors, they’ve had over 200 years to get used to things being on the right.

One might say, “why not just make both doors automatic?” which is what I thought at first but only one door is automated. This is because installing an automatic door costs several thousand dollars, according to Director of Facilities, Martin Pawlina. Therefore they’ve only installed one at the main entrance, entrance to the admin building via the breezeway, entrance to the Pumadome and the entrance to the classroom building.

Everyone knows that going through the right door is the correct way, yet the majority of people ignore this completely when it comes to passing through doors at UPrep. People should just stick to the right side and that would make everything smoother.