An Unnecessary Disturbance

Class Pets are a Distraction in the Classroom

Photo by Matt Bero on Unsplash

When navigating through school, students should be primarily focused on their education. While distractions, like friends, sports or extracurriculars, are inevitable– one such distraction should certainly not be the presence of a class pet. While they can be fun, ultimately they drain resources and cause distraction in the classroom. 

Whether it’s a fish or a hamster, all pets require tons of care. Feeding them, playing with them or cleaning their living space can be draining for the teacher and other caretakers, who are also busy handling students and teaching classes. Additionally, teachers would need to take the animal home during emergencies where school might not be suitable and take care of them over breaks. It is a large responsibility on people who already deal with a lot of stress on a day-to-day basis. 

“Unless you had a really set structure of who’s taking care of the pet and all that, then I guess that would work, but again, it’s going to be a distraction,” Upper School Academic Dean Angela Croston said. “I feel like it would slowly fall upon the teacher to take care of it, and that would be just more added work to them.”

Additionally, pets are quite expensive. Even a simple goldfish requires a tank that could potentially total $500 if you include filters, heaters or decorations, not to mention the regular expense of food, healthcare and cleaning supplies. It adds up quickly– even if you only spend $15 per month on food, that’s almost $200 a year. And, most likely, these expenses come out of the teacher’s pocket, which could be difficult for them, like any other person, to maintain. 

“I was spending probably $15 a week on food and supplies on average,” Biomedical Concentration Director Rachel Paul said. “So that’s about $60 per month…But they are my animals, so I’m okay.”

Despite being tiresome to maintain, class pets offer little learning opportunity and serve primarily as a distraction to students. They can be noisy, which diverts students’ attention away from the teacher and topic, or students can simply try to play with the pet in the middle of class. They also can smell or cause discomfort to students, depending upon the animal, which is another distracting factor. 

Some may argue that class pets bring an atmosphere of positivity to the classroom, and while class pets can be fun for students occasionally, they still ultimately take away from the learning environment. Their needs can disrupt the classroom, and they can even potentially escape their living space or suffer a health issue that can be devastating to students. Any issues with the pet can quickly ruin the already-distracted atmosphere, and cause even more of a disturbance. 

“(Talking about her experience with a class pet) They would look at it, and then any chance to comment on what it was doing, or ask questions about it or just give them something else to focus on besides what they were doing,” Croston said. 

Also, class pets can be a health concern for students. Some pets may be unsuitable for children with allergies, and without proper sanitary regulations, there can be a transfer of germs between the pet and student that cause disease. 

Ultimately, class pets are distracting and draining to care for. They do not contribute anything significant to the classroom that could justify getting one, and even go so far as to take away resources and time that could be used for academics. Overall, the presence of pets should not be found in the classroom.