End long lines for school lunch
by Kaitlyn Hammers
Sitting in 80 minute classes for an entire day just to have to spend more time waiting in line to get food is on nobody’s wishlist. We only have 22 minutes to eat lunch, and since the majority of that for some people is just waiting in line, that cuts by half the amount of time students are able to eat.
Testing out how long it would take to get through the lunch line by timing different days I got 15 minutes for one day, 8 and then 12 minutes for another. Considering that is only timing how long it can take to get through lunch, it isn’t factoring how long it takes to get to the line and sit down and start eating.
Considering that students also like to cut in line to through the line faster, things are a little more difficult. Most people won’t say anything to the people who cut so nothing ever really happens. Also, many people don’t know their password, so that adds on time to waiting in the line.
Even when students go to the cafeteria early or if they go later, they won’t serve lunch. They also run out of food(s) by the time the end of the day comes around for third lunch, so not everybody is even getting a full lunch.
One of the points of lunch is to eat but also take a break from classes students have been in all day. Not everyone wants to sit through 80 minute classes back to back all day from 8:40-3:40 or standing in line. But that is possible with the short of time students get for lunch.
If students were able to have a longer lunch time, they would be able to take a break from classes and talk with friends. Not many kids can focus with long classes, and giving them only one break time that is one-fourth of the time they are in one class is not enough.
Students are supposed to be learning during class, but how can they learn when they are hungry, or when all they can think about is lunch time. That can take away the whole learning process because students aren’t focusing on classes.
Even adding more lunch lines could help. We only have 4 lunch lines and the majority of them are very long lines. If the school added another line there wouldn’t be as much traffic in the cafeteria. If the problem is also that most people favor one line over another, then why not add the popular food to other lines to reduce the traffic for one line? It would mean that one line wouldn’t be taking up the most room and wait time, and more people would be able to get lunch in a shorter amount of time. Having more lines would make lunch longer for some people and students would still get a break from classes.
