High School Habitat: Is CF a perfect home for classroom pets?

Lucas Hamilton/Entertainment Editor

As the school year gets into full swing, “hectic” becomes the new “it” word.

One day while sitting in class, my mind wandered to what would make school more bearable and make people actually want to come, and I stumbled upon the perfect solution: classroom pets.

Who wouldn’t want an adorable little guinea pig sitting in class to play with every day?

This would be an excellent way to reduce stress for students and teachers alike, with stress levels higher than ever as second quarter nears.

Maybe it’s time to we explore some options for a little classroom companion.

The Humane Society has guidelines for classroom pets.

On its website, it asks questions about getting a class pet such as which animals pose the largest risk for diseases, which animals are the hardest to handle in a classroom, and which animals are the best for the classroom setting.

According to the website, the best animals are gerbils, guinea pigs, other small rodents or goldfish.

They provide the least risk of diseases and can easily adapt to the social setting of a classroom.

Goldfish–or fish in general, for that matter–are the best option because they dodge allergies completely.

With guinea pigs and gerbils, allergies will undeniably spring up.

One way to avoid this potential risk is to have everyone wash their hands before and after touching the animals, which is just practicing basic hygiene for pets and people alike.

Fish, on the other hand as mentioned before, would completely avoid the allergy problem.

So why doesn’t every teacher just get a fish tank and fill it up with some little goldfish?

Because it would probably get a little boring.

But why not let the science classrooms keep a little furry companion?

Biology students are learning about the living things on Earth.

I think we’ve become so obsessed with working hard and overworking that we are reducing the quality of our lives.

If we can just have one little animal or fish that makes our stress lessen even slightly, then it is worth the consideration.

Maybe it is just my animal-lover side talking, but classroom pets would definitely bring some much desired excitement and–quite literally–new life into school.