There’s a saying in programming, which I believe applies in most disciplines, that “a temporary solution is a permanent one”; also written as, “no solution is more permanent than a temporary one.”
“there’s no solution so permanent as a temporary one that works”
Good ole’ “portables”
It just makes me happy that the ramp is compliant with regulations. I’ve seen some pretty shitty ramps.
I was taught grade 4 in one of those
Those are rookie numbers…I did grade 4 twice in one of those
They had these in Canada too?
Absolutely. They pitched them as a way to expand space cheaply so they could save money to build a new school. We were told that our grad class of 05 would be either the last in the old school or the first in the new one.
It’s still the old one.
They’re still up at my school I believe
I remember showing up for tenth grade, looking at the list of assigned classrooms in the first day of the school year. Instead of the usual the digit number, it said “C1”. My classmates showed up, and we’re just as confused as I was.
The C turned out to be short for “container”, which we found in a corner of the school grounds.
That said, being able to quickly go outside in every break was pretty neat. And the school actually did get a second building only a few years later.
Needs more jpeg
Nah it’s about the right amount for the nostalgia
Yeah, we called them “Portables.” They were there long before I came, and will be there long after I am dead. Long live our plywood fortresses.
Demountables for us
Did you go to Summer Heights High?
Not far off
For me it was containers like these:
Long live our tin fortresses
At least you had windows. My kids are in a pretty new school building, but most of the classrooms are located in the middle of the building without windows and natural light. Seems like another one of those “only in America” things.
Yeah the “middle” was the school yard surrounded by narrow buildings
I’m sad to report it’s very much not limited to America. My local university had these things pop up to some considerable height because one of the buildings was condemned due to mold. Condemned about three years ago and is still standing. There’s also a number of schools using these things because they burned down or got condemned or whatever, I’m not entirely sure. At least one of those has been going two years longer than it was supposed to.
Oh, I’m not talking about these “temporary” container-like structures. I’m talking about newly built permanent school buildings that have no windows in the classrooms. I’ve never seen that outside the US.
I would guess that it depends on health regulations. For instance, in some (most?) countries it’s illegal to have a hotel room without a window and I presume, the same is applied to school rooms.
Makes me wonder if there are school rooms without windows in China, where you are allowed to build hotels without windows 🤔
What’s with the cable at the top between sections?
Grounding, to make sure the containers stay at the same electric potential
Not only at the top, there’s also cables at the bottom between sections and what looks like a cable duct mounted in front of it with a bunch of cables coming out at the top
The cable duct looks like ac lines, and the yellow cables at the bottom are probably grounding
I’m pretty sure ours are still there 23 years later.
Portables
Yup, that’s what I was told they were called.
I’m pretty sure ours was asbestos… back in the 80s.
we called them demountables.
they where never demounted.
We called them portables.
My grade 3 portable is still standing. My children have been taught in it.
Ah, Latin class.
The most permanent solution is always a temporary solution
Fun fact: you don’t need a DA for these*, so they are a hell of a lot cheaper to install. *Subject to jurisdiction
DA?
Dark Arts Professor — they are notoriously difficult to keep around
Development approval, required by a council before you build something
These are incredibly useful. In Iceland we have mobile classrooms that can be moved by truck. If you need only one or two classrooms then these do the job but as soon as you get to 5 it justifies building a new wing of 10 classrooms. Incrementally building 1-2 classrooms is not the best use of public money.
That happened when the school refused a number of students. The local politicians didn’t like that and said the school was not allowed to refuse students anymore. When summer vacation came there were a few dozen more students signed in than they’re were chairs in the school. The politicians had no choice but to do some expensive cabin building before school opened for the next year. After that, refusing new students was allowed.
You know something’s afoot when those are signicantly better than the regular buildings.
