Lunch: Is it Better Longer or Shorter?

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Lunch here at North Forsyth High School should be extended. It is too short and there is hardly any time to eat and work on homework.

Lunch is looked at as being a big part of the school day. It’s a time to eat, work and in some circumstances, play. But in North Forsyth High School, lunch has come to a point at which some things like homework or even eating are just impossible to be completed in a measly 25 minutes.

In my experiences at the private school Midtown International School in Atlanta, lunch was a time for finishing work as well as eating and conversing with friends. The lunches there were 45 minutes to one hour long. Coming to North Forsyth was a huge change. Having 100 times as many students in high school has its advantages as well as its disadvantages. One of these disadvantages is lunch has to be split into three parts because of the numbers of kids and the size of the lunchroom. Lunch should be longer at North Forsyth; there’s no doubt about it. If lunch was longer, students would be able to eat more food, especially the more healthier foods. A study done by the professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, Eric Rimm, showed that the less time you have to eat during lunch determines the food you eat, meaning students tend to pick the less healthier options in their lunch to eat. 

At MIS, there was very little to no homework. Everything was a project with an extended deadline. Lunch was not only a time to eat but a time to work on said projects. If North Forsyth had a longer lunch, students would get more work done. 

Another problem is the way the lunch structure is setup. If the school could find a way to decrease the number of lunches then lunch could be longer. If the students were allowed to eat in classrooms and the Hub everyone could have lunch around the same time. This would also allow the students to eat with the students they wish to eat with. 

Lunch is definitely a problem here at North Forsyth. Lunch should be longer so that students can have more time during the school day to converse, work, and eat. In addition, school life would be less stressed and have more of an impact on a students future.