Lunch–that time of the school day where students and teachers alike get a break from education and have a chance to sit down and talk for a while. It is the favorite time of day for most students, and some have even debated that lunch should be lengthened to one hour. Sure, lunch is enjoyable and goes by quickly while sitting there talking with your buddies, but is that really a good reason to extend lunch to an hour?
With more time for friends and less for schoolwork, extending lunch could improve students’ attitudes and happiness. The school day can be stressful for some students, so an extended lunch would give them something to look forward to; they would only need a little rest and relaxation to get right back on track.
Also, sometimes students do not finish all their food in the allotted thirty minutes, either because they prefer to eat slowly or they were that poor sucker standing at the end of an excessively large line with a growling stomach. An hour-long lunch would remove those problems entirely, allowing students to buy and eat their meals at a slow and comfortable pace.
Teachers could benefit from this extension as well. Not only would they get longer breaks from teaching classes, but they could also be assured that those in their class who are usually sleeping will be more alert because of that extra 30 minutes of eating and socializing. Their students’ grades might also improve, as those who need an assignment finished by next period will have plenty of time to do it well.
However, there are some faults in the idea of an hour-long lunch. For starters, it would intrude on class time, making the classes more fast-paced and causing those who are currently struggling to fall even further behind.
An extended lunch would also give the janitors and lunch workers less time to pick up and prepare themselves for the next lunch. With an hour lunch, preparation time would go from 15 minutes to virtually none, and that would not be very fair to those hardworking janitors and lunch ladies (and men, of course).
Personally, I believe that there should be a 40-minute lunch. That way, the scheduling becomes extremely simple, students are happy with the extra time, the janitors and lunch workers have five minutes to clean up, and everyone is happy. Education comes first, but it would be nice to have a couple more minutes of relaxation between hectic schoolwork.
No Comments