Thursday, May 17, 2007

Time in Cafeteria By Eileen

Lunch time is a critical focus for the school day. And it’s very important part of the day. So, do you think that lunch time needs to be extended? Well, I agree that lunch time needs to be extended. Lunch is a good way to organize the value of eating and socializing in the middle of the day. I’ll tell you some reasons. Some of the students eat slow and need more time. Another reason is that teachers need time to organize and prepare for next class. Also students socialize during lunch.

Have you ever noticed people who tried to rush to finish their lunch? They are the ones who are struggling to eat faster, but they naturally eat slowly. In our school, about 30 minutes of lunch isn’t enough for slow eaters. You can see that some students wait to finish their lunch or throw away their lunch before they can finish when the rest of the students go to their next class. The students that stay at the cafeteria to finish their lunch end up missing some of their class. Other students that throw away their lunch will get hungry. Researchers have said the quickest eaters have the greatest increase in body mass index (BMI). In the other hand, the slowest have the lowest rise in BMI. “Eating fast may lead to obesity independent of energy intake or other lifestyle factors in middle-aged, non-diabetic men and women” a team reported at the annual meeting of North American Association for the Study of Obesity. So, the people who rush through to eat their lunch get fatter more easily. (http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/%20content/article/2005%20/12/27/AR2005122700314.html)

During lunch time, teachers need time to organize for next class. They need time to eat, relax, get to class, tidy lessons, prepare for next class or supervise children. For staff members, they can catch up with adult colleagues and deal with gas bills. They can sort out day-to-day tasks during lunch breaks. Teachers can sort out assignments for the students. (http://www.ournewschool.org/index.php/walker/article/rushing_through_lunch/)

Everybody socializes every day. Teachers and students socialize during lunch. The teachers can talk to each other about the students’ grades. The students talk during lunch about whatever they want to talk about. Students socialize with friends and it’s valued greatly. (The following link tells us about this school who expresses their opinion about socializing.) (http://www.ournewschool.org/index.php/walker/article/rushing_through_lunch/)

These are my reasons why I think school lunch time should be extended. Socializing is very important to one’s life. Teachers and staff members need to organize so they can teach the students better. And eating slow is good for one’s health and doesn’t need to be rushed. These are ideas that should be utilized in every school’s lunch time.