Recently our administration has made a rule against eating in classrooms and hallways. Many teachers have traditionally let students eat in their classrooms. Is this a good rule? Does it prevent students from getting needed nutrition? What are the benefits of the rule?

More importantly, what does the student body have to say about the issue?

Interviews

Ruby Gross (8) didn’t know the rule was a thing before I told her. “I have some teachers who let us eat and some who are strictly against it.” I asked Ruby what she thought about the rule in general. “I think it should be the teacher’s choice, it shouldn’t just be nobody can do it. If a teacher allows you to, I don’t think there’s any problem with that.”  “I have a few classes in the middle of the day that let me have a snack, so I take advantage of that.”  Is the lunch period really enough time to eat? “Not as much as I’d like, but it works OK.” Ruby said.

Next up, Karthik Rajaram’s opinion. “I think it’s bad… for example, if you’re after PE and you feel hungry then you would want to eat.” He thinks students should be able to eat in classrooms. “I would especially like that because sometimes kids don’t get to eat breakfast and want to take it to their classrooms and eat.” Did you eat in classrooms before the rule? “I was eating before, like in first period because sometimes I would forget to eat breakfast. I would want to eat in first period because I feel a little hungry.” Can you finish your lunch in lunch? “No.” He says that getting down to lunch and finding a seat can take time away from the half-period.

Anya Martins (6) thinks that the rule is “not the best because people like to eat to help them concentrate or give themselves strength. I think if you don’t eat you could feel hungry and focus on that more.” Anya, like many, did and does still eat in classrooms. “My eighth period lets me eat, but I used to eat in [other] classes before the rule.” Would she agree that the lunch period is long enough? “Mainly yeah, but sometimes if I bring my lunch from home and then I eat it and I’m still hungry in eighth period if I try to go buy a snack they usually won’t let me.”

I decided to time how much time I actually had to eat lunch, starting when I sat down and ending when I left my table. It came to about 19 minutes and 10 seconds.

Opinion

In my opinion, eating lunch in your classrooms has many pros and cons.

Pros of eating in classroom:

• Students can finish lunch they do not have time to eat during their 19:10-minute lunch period
• Students, especially 8th graders, who have lunch later in the day can eat if they are hungry

Cons of doing so:

• Classrooms can get dirty with food or trash
• Students could be distracted with lunch during class

I believe that removing the rule would cause problems, but that keeping it could as well. My personal opinion about the whole thing: students should not be able to eat in classrooms except during advisory. If students can eat during advisory, they can finish lunch they know they won’t during lunch or finish food after lunch. This segment of food-allowed advisory could be shortened to 10 minutes of the half-period if teachers find students are not doing work. It’s not a perfect solution, but I feel that it is as close as we may get.