Should lunches Be longer?

Izzy

School lunches are too short at ISM, lasting only 35 minutes. There are many reasons for encouraging a longer lunch break. the main reason is because when given a short lunch break, students tend to go for the more unhealthy options as they are quicker and easier to eat. Another is that students aren’t able to fully digest their food. Finally, students need to socialize and have a break from academics whether exercising or relaxing. 

Short lunch breaks encourage students to buy unhealthier options as they are quicker to eat and easier to get. ISM offers a limited selection of healthy food, and the queues for any kind of food are incredibly long, leaving little time for eating, let alone socializing. Many members of ISM play sports at lunch and find that eating and fitting in their preferred sport is difficult. Eating unhealthily and not having enough time to exercise for fun can lead to lethargy and sugar crashes. Although having a longer lunch break could lead to a longer school day, it would be worth it as students will have been able to ‘recharge’ at lunch to prepare themselves for the rest of the day.

Short lunch breaks don’t allow students to fully digest their food and this can lead to students having to go to the clinic more often and can affect their general health. It can also affect their energy levels. Giving children enough time to digest their food and prepare for their classes is essential as well as giving them time to transition from socializing at lunch to a class mindset. Students should get out of the school zone for a bit, to socialize and mentally gear up for the classes ahead.

Longer school lunches would help students with busy schedules to fit in their homework and spend time with peers and socialize, as learning social skills at this age is crucial for further development. Doing homework during lunch period is arguably better than not doing it at all, and is the students’ choice of time management. 

To conclude, students need longer school lunches to further benefit their health, social development, and time management skills.

Emman

When it comes to lunch, the designated length is perfect as is. This follows with many reasons why. The average length of lunchtime in schools is around 40 minutes, which is already overkill as studies show. Many researchers say that the average school student only needs 20 minutes to eat their food (not including lining up and walking to the canteen). In addition, the sole reason the large majority of students would like a longer lunch is that they believe a longer lunch is equivalent to less class time in their logic. But I’ll tell you why that isn’t true.

First and foremost, longer lunches would most likely not mean shorter classes. Rather, these long lunches will result in longer school days. To make sure students are learning the same amount, ISM school days might be extended to maintain the same 1 hour and 10-minute classes. This would also mean after school activities would be cut short or end at later times. Though, if ISM were to cut their classes short, classes would have to be more fast-paced and it would be harder for students to obtain knowledge.

Secondly, similar to when exercising, if you take too long of a break, you may get out of “the zone." As you go about your school day, most students tend to become more focused and perform better. If we were to have roughly an hour of lunch, you would most likely get out of your learning “roll” and perform at the same level you were at the beginning of the day.

Lastly, longer lunches might be a source of procrastination. With a longer lunch period, there is more time to do many other things. This may be homework and projects. Rather than doing it at the preferred time (after school), some students may choose to complete their work during lunch. This subconsciously creates more stress in a student’s life.

In conclusion, longer lunches should not be put into fruition because that would mean worse performance, longer school days, procrastination, etc.