Should lunch at Jenison High School be longer?
March 1, 2023
Giving Jenison High School students a longer lunch can have many benefits. Having that extra time for lunch can improve grades. It can also improve social behaviors. It can improve the student’s school life in general.
The Benefits
Having a longer lunch can have many benefits. To start, having a long lunch can give people more time to eat. I asked Callie Hutchinson, a senior at Jenison High School, if the current amount of time we get for lunch is enough. “No, I do not have enough time to eat lunch,” she responded. Providing the students with a longer lunchtime could help them get a full lunch in. Some students even spend half of their lunchtime in the lunch line because of how long it can get. There are times when I see students enter the school with their lunch. They sometimes have to eat during class because they were unable to finish at home.
Next, getting a longer lunch could stop students from being late to class. This is beneficial to the students who go out for lunch. I asked Faith Gardner, a senior at Jenison High School, if she thinks lunch should be longer. She responded with, “Maybe like 5 minutes longer or so because some people would rather eat at home or go out to eat and it’s impossible to do so if you live like 7-10 minutes away, especially with getting out of the parking lot”. If the students had at least 5 more minutes of lunchtime, students will most likely not be late. They would have enough time to leave, make or buy whatever, eat, and then return to Jenison High School. People have more time to enjoy it, hopefully safer driving, and catching up with people you don’t normally see. — Faith Gardner
Also, a more extended lunch could benefit the people who do not get to talk to friends often. I asked Matthew Harper, a freshman at Jenison High School, why lunch should be longer. “Because some people need some time to talk” is what Matthew Harper responded. Some students do not have classes with their friends. Lunch might be the only way some students are able to get that time to socialize with them.
Then, getting a longer lunch could help students get their work done. Some students do not have time at home to get their homework done and getting a longer lunch period could fix that. I asked Callie Hutchinson how long she thinks lunch should be. “I feel like 45 minutes is like a solid time, like enough time to eat, plenty of time to like talk with your friends and if you wanna do school work there’s time to do that as well.” is what Callie Hutchinson said. A longer lunch period could help students get their schoolwork done. They could get full points rather than getting partial credit or even no credit at all.
In all, Callie, Matthew, and Faith seemed fond of getting a longer lunch period. They talked about many benefits that could come out of getting a longer lunch. These benefits included giving students more time to eat. They are also less likely to be late to class, they have time to be social, and students could also get their work done.