With a new schedule students at Van Nuys High School feel lunch should be lengthened to make up for longer continuous class time. Courtesy of | Pavel Danilyuk on Pexels
School days are lengthy, and many of us are counting down the minutes until lunch. But let’s be honest — lunch isn’t nearly long enough.
Picture this: you woke up at 7:30 a.m., got ready and dragged yourself to school just to sit down for 189 minutes between first and second period. Maybe you were able to grab breakfast from one of the carts outside, but you’re still exhausted because these 88 minute blocks are draining and you’re still getting used to this new change.
Unfortunately, this bleak string of events is now a daily reality for many students, especially those struggling to adjust to an 8 by 2 block schedule.
And you would think we’d at least have the sweet relief of lunch — the one time in the school day when we’re free to be ourselves and take a moment to unwind.
But let’s be real.
After leaving class, you walk across campus to join the winding lunch line, which some days stretches all the way to the volleyball courts. All this time, you’re lugging around your heavy backpack. You may at least have your friends to help pass the time, but that’s the best case scenario.
It doesn’t help that there’s a new system of scanning each student’s ID either. Half the students in line, for some reason unprepared, rummage around in their backpack and hold the line up.
By the time this ritual has concluded, you might be fortunate enough to have 10 minutes left of lunch. But taking into account the time it takes to walk to whatever classroom or area you hangout with your friends, you may now be down to seven minutes.
That’s a pretty laughable break.
Now consider larger scale events, such as Club Rush or student debates, that require additional time. Currently, they’re rushed and lack the quality they might have if lunch weren’t limited to 30 minutes.
Even on regular school days when there are club meetings, the board is confronted with a dilemma — either choose to go hungry, or wait in the long lunch lines and risk a botched meeting.
10 minutes isn’t nearly enough time to do an interactive exercise, or even an informal presentation.
Since students do their very best to stay put and stay attentive for 88 minute classes, they deserve their promised break. But at present, there simply isn’t enough time to decompress.
So, here’s what I propose: make lunch 45 minutes long.
It’s a small adjustment to make, but it would have a big impact.
With a proper mental break, students may also be more productive in their classes. Teachers may be concerned over a loss of instructional time, but it would only shift dismissal to 3:38 p.m., like last year.
And who knows, maybe this slight return to normalcy is what students need.
The point is, our current schedule doesn’t adequately meet student needs. Whether block schedule is a net positive or negative is a different topic, but the clearest change is that classes are much lengthier. With that change in mind, there’s no reason lunch should stay the same.