It is said that most men live lives of quiet desperation.
The same could be said of most schools too;
by far the majority of your day,
like an atom,
is space.
Not free time, but routine;
a metronome of the anodyne and the commonplace, punctuated by the tattoo of the lesson bell.

From Educating Yorkshire 3: bad boys, bad boys- what ya gonna do?, TES Connect, 20 September 2013. By Rachel.