Educators and parents may feel that school should be a place where you can safely learn to live in the real world without getting burned by it. Unfortunately, students, teachers and staff deal with property theft on a regular basis. And as iPods, cell phones, and other valuable gadgets get even more advanced, thieves may have an even bigger incentive to steal in school. That’s why school lockers can make a valuable addition to your school hallways and classrooms. The kind you buy will often depend on who uses them.

For younger students, you may want to try open cubby-style lockers. First off, children may have trouble manipulating a combination lock to get to their own belongings. Secondly, younger students will likely need protection from themselves more than from their classmates because they don’t know what it means to double-check on their possessions. In elementary school, I remember losing books, clothes and other items from time to time simply because I hadn’t learned to stay organized yet. Student cubbies provide a visible, easy-to-access area where kids can put away their belongings and keep them separate from what their classmates bring to school. And besides clothes, a light backpack, and maybe a book or two, younger students probably won’t bring enough to fill up or even warrant a bigger, more advanced storage unit at this point.

For middle school and high school students, steel lockers make more sense. Teens can handle combination locks and they have more to store, including heavy textbooks and binders. They’re also carrying cell phones and other electronics that require extra protection from a sturdy steel frame and lock. Call it a broad generalization if you want, but students simply aren’t as innocent as they were back in preschool and elementary school, and they understand more about the face value of personal possessions. Steel lockers provide a certain level of protection for students against their peers, as well as outside parties looking for a free handout.

We’re already a month or so into the school year, but it’s never too late to look into ways to keep students and their belongings safe and secure. Look for more entries in the weeks and months to come on ways to protect possessions in a school setting.