Thursday, February 21, 2008

Problem Solved!

From the BBC:

No rocking on new school chairs
A former teacher has designed a school chair which he claims is impossible to tip backwards.

Tom Wates gave up his teaching post in Blackheath in south-east London to design the "Max Chair".

It has curved legs that prevent it rocking and provides more support for the lower back, forcing children to sit up straight.

His company has already received orders for 1,500 chairs from 18 schools having launched the product three weeks ago.

Mr Wates, 34, said it is physically impossible to swing the chair backwards more than a few centimetres.

"The reason I went into it was because of the irritation of children leaning back," said Mr Wates who gave up teaching in July 2007.

"You would get into the flow of the lesson, the kid would fall off the chair, everyone would laugh and you would have to start again," the former maths and PE teacher said.

About 7,000 British school children need to go to hospital each year after injuring themselves by tipping backwards on chairs, according to government figures.



Article

2 comments:

  1. That used to irritate me too. I worried that the kids would get hurt if they fell backwards. One little guy in my Children's church class had been warned several times and of course, tipped back and fell during a prayer. He was still sitting in the chair, back on floor, legs up in the air, solemly put his hands together in a prayerful way and continued to pray as if nothing had happened!

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  2. LOL!I had a similar thing happen in a school Scripture class. The poor boy very nearly cracked the back of his head on the teacher's desk. He's a really nice kid.. and 7 years later I still use his experience as an example to anyone silly enough to try it.

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