Lunch is a vital part of the school day. Not only is it the time for people to eat, but it also serves as a break from schoolwork and a time to catch-up with friends. It allows students to recharge their brains after continuous mental strain from class to class, so they can be refueled for the second half of the day.
Currently, lunch is about 24 minutes long. While this could be considered a sufficient amount of time to eat, many students argue that it just isn’t enough time to fulfill these other needs of chatting and having a break.
Additionally, people who buy school lunch often do not have an adequate amount of time to eat and spend too much time waiting for their food.
Sophomore Claire Simon, who buys school lunch almost everyday, argues for more lunchtime.
“Having longer school lunches would give us more time to talk and actually eat, because it takes a while for everyone to get through the line every day,” said Simon. “It usually takes at least five to ten minutes to get through.”
Spending ten minutes in the lunch line means that almost half of lunch is spent just by standing in line. This is a daily occurrence for many students. Occasionally, some are left with only five minutes to eat, and they’re excused to 5th period due to not having enough time to eat and being late.
The wait time is an extremely detrimental aspect of buying school lunch, as it promotes students to feel rushed while eating, endorses unhealthy eating habits, and leaves them with no time for social interactions or mental resets.
Some students also use lunch as an opportunity to use the restroom, as it is an inconvenience to go during classroom instruction. However, the wait time in this situation is a negative factor once again.
Sophomore Lyndsay Arnold feels strongly about the topic.
“Half the time you spend waiting, first for the bathroom line, then for the lunch line,” Arnold said. “By the time you get to your seat, you only have ten minutes left to eat.”
Longer lunch time, which provides better nutrition, positively impacts mood and overall focus in class. It is statically proven that longer lunches allow for a boost in productivity and learning, and therefore, higher grades.
As stated by KingCounty.gov, “Students who lack nutrients tend to be irritable and have difficulty concentrating, which can interfere with learning and academic performance.”
Not only would longer school lunch give students more time to eat, but it can influence their academic performance as well.
Food waste is also a crucial detail to mention.
According to an experiment conducted by Harvard School of Public Health, “Students with less than 20 minutes to eat lunch consumed 13% less of their entrées, 12% less of their vegetables, and 10% less of their milk than students who had more than 25 minutes to eat.”
The study proves that more time to eat could reduce the overall waste of food at our school. Food waste is an increasingly occurring problem, and a longer lunch would allow us to prevent it.
Lunchtime is one of the most important, if not the most, important part of the day. It helps students regain their focus and allows students to have social time and a mental break. Most importantly, it is the time for students to fuel their bodies. Lunch needs to be longer in order to fulfill all of these different properties. A longer lunch would benefit students, teachers, and the school as a whole. 24 minutes is just not enough.
