Yes the locker room is visible from the hallway but you had to be down there to see it because you had to turn to go in. But I wasn't standing naked in the bathroom, not in front of the lockers where anyone could see me from the hall.
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At my high school, you didn't have to shower, you could give yourself a sponge bath and be done. Our showers also had curtains but the boys didn't. Back in Washington at the Junior High I would have gone too, you had to shower and there are no curtains. That freaked me out when I was 12 when all the sixth graders were being told about our new school we all be going to because it was about the end of the school year and we were all going to leave elementary school. They told us there be no recess, we be switching classes for each subject, etc and all of it made me nervous and scared because it was all changes, plus I had issues with being seen naked by other girls growing up because of puberty.
In high school I had issues with PE because I didn't want to change in front of the other girls because I was still embarrassed about my body. So the school was going to let me change into my PE clothes in the bathroom and back into my regular clothes. But on the first day of PE, I saw all the girls had pubic hair so I wasn't embarrassed anymore. Plus they are all too busy changing and minding their own business, they don't all go looking at each other and I was paranoid for nothing. So I changed in front of everyone too. I never showered though.
In Montana you have to have it up till 10th grade and then after that, it's optional. I never took it as an elective because I hated PE. It was fun when I was in elementary school but as I got older it got boring because it's all sports now.
Reason why PE is required is because exercise is very important. All children need it. It helps your body so that's why all schools have it. I discovered even some elementary schools have locker rooms and kids shower after PE. At my elementary school there was no locker rooms and showers. The elementary school in town where my parents live have a locker room.