A week of bad budget and economic news does not bode well for the city’s high schools. The New York Daily News reported that the city's newly downsized capital plan includes plans for just two new high schools—even though 59% of the city’s high schoolers spend their days in overcrowded buildings.

Parents and kids who are currently searching for high schools can’t help notice how many kids are inside the classrooms we visit. I counted more than 40 on one of my tours this fall, and I noticed just how cramped the room felt.

At one school, I saw at least one or two kids nodding off during a calculus class. The teacher mostly likely couldn’t even see them—or he didn’t want to take away from the rest of his lesson by trying to wake them up.

I know that some high schools have split sessions and that some kids are attending class in trailers. I wonder what it's like to be a student in an overcrowded high school or to teach in one.

As I was nearly squished and barely able to breathe on my morning commute today, I thought about city kids who travel long distances on jammed subways only to squeeze themselves into crowded classrooms and hallways. There really is such a thing as too much human contact.